Draft Criteria for NSF Proposals

Posted on July 7, 2011October 17, 2012

Last week the National Science Board (NSB) issued new draft criteria for the peer review of proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF). The two “merit review” criteria of the last 14 years – intellectual merit and broader impact – remain, but they are now framed by a preamble that offers a set of principles that relate the criteria to a set of national goals. The proposed changes are significant and should draw the attention of both the scientific and policy communities: balancing the competing demands of autonomy and accountability.

FY12 Appropriations Update

Posted on July 7, 2011October 17, 2012

Today, three House Appropriations subcommittees are expected to approve FY12 domestic spending bills that continue the push by House Republicans to cut domestic spending and reverse administration policies.

Interior-Environment Bill: Steep cuts are proposed for the EPA, federal clean water and drinking water programs, and for state environmental grant programs that Republicans say are a regulatory overreach. The bill also contains policy riders that include a one-year delay of EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from stationary industrial sources. Top Appropriations Democrat Norm Dicks (D-WA) warned that the cuts would be “devastating for the environment and for the preservation of America’s natural heritage.” If the cuts stand, Republicans would have reduced the EPA budget by nearly a third over the last two years to $1.5 billion.

Commerce-Justice-Science Bill: The C-J-S measure funds a range of agencies, from NASA to the Census Bureau, and would provide $50.2 billion, a drop of more than 15 percent from FY10 levels. NASA, the Legal Services Corporation, and the Civil Rights Commissions would all face cuts while law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency, would receive modest increases.

Legislative Branch Bill: The Capitol Police would be spared cuts under the spending bill due to be backed by the Legislative Branch subcommittee today. The $3.3 billion plan would cut $227 million, or 6.4 percent, from the FY11 enacted levels. While the Capitol Police would be level funded at $340 million, it is still 12 percent less than the funding sought by the security force. Appropriators are unlikely to reverse the cuts as Congress has cited its own budget as evidence that it will lead by example in making tough fiscal choices.

Amendments are not likely at the subcommittee markups, but Democratic attempts to restore funding and limit policy riders are expected at the full committee considerations, which could happen as soon as next week.

Meanwhile, the FY12 Defense appropriations bill will be considered on the House floor later today. While cutting domestic spending programs, the House is set to approve a FY12 Defense appropriations bill that would increase national security spending. The House may still consider several amendments aimed at cutting funding for the Afghanistan war, but significant cuts are unlikely to be adopted.

After completing work on the Defense measure, the House is expected to begin floor debate on the FY12 Energy-Water spending measure. The $30.6 billion bill comes in at $5.9 billion (19 percent) below the President’s request, bringing spending to around the FY05 level.

Patent Reform Bill Remains Stalled in Senate

Posted on July 6, 2011October 17, 2012

The Senate has been unable to quickly vote on the House-passed version of Patent Reform, and it now looks increasingly likely that votes will have to be allowed on a couple of controversial amendments to the bill which could cause further problems.

One of the House adopted amendments would recalculate the filing period for patent term extension applications for drug products and other patents covered by the Hatch-Waxman Act. This has raised concern among certain Senators because it would essentially only benefit one biotech firm which filed its application for extension of patent protection on day late.

The other amendment which has already proven to be an obstacle is the issue of patent office funding. While the House version of the bill included language that directed revenue to be continued to be handled through the appropriations process, a larger group of Senators continue to push for allowing USPTO to keep all of the revenue it generates from fees.

It is expected that the House would likely accept changes to the former amendment, but would refuse any alteration to the latter. Also holding up the process is the refusal by many in both chambers to refuse to discuss any other issues until the debt ceiling debate is resolved.

FY12 Commerce-Justice-Science Bill Released

Posted on July 6, 2011October 17, 2012

The House Appropriations Committee today released their FY12 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill, which will be considered in subcommittee tomorrow. The bill funds the Department of Commerce, the Department of Justice, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other related agencies. In total, the draft legislation contains $50.2 billion in funding. This is a reduction of $3.1 billion or 6 percent below FY11 levels, and $7.4 billion or 13 percent below the President’s request for these programs. This total is also 3 percent below the pre-stimulus, pre-bailout level of 2008.

Bill Highlights:

Department of Commerce – The bill contains $7.1 billion for the Commerce Department – a reduction of $464 million or 6 percent below last year’s level, and $1.7 billion or 19 percent below the President’s request. This includes funding for the following agencies:

Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) – The bill provides $2.7 billion for the PTO – the full amount requested by the President. This funding is equal to the estimated amount of fees to be collected by the PTO during FY12, and is an increase of $588 million or 28 percent above FY11 enacted level. The bill also includes language that allows PTO to keep and use any fees in excess of the estimated collected amount, subject to standard Congressional approval, and includes language requiring PTO to report on efforts to reduce the patent application backlog
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – NIST is funded at $701 million in the bill, which is $49 million below last year’s level and $300 million below the President’s request. Within this total, important core research activities to help advance US competitiveness, innovation, and economic growth are increased by $10 million above the FY11 level.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – The legislation contains $4.5 billion for NOAA, which is a cut of $103 million below last year’s level and $1 billion below the President’s request. Within this total, National Weather Service operations and systems are fully funded at the requested level, and an increase of $430 million is included for the Joint Polar Satellite System weather satellite program to ensure the continuation of important weather data collection.
Economic Development Administration (EDA) – The bill includes $258 million in funding for the EDA – $26 million below last year’s level and $67 million below the President’s request. This includes $5 million in grant funding to attract US jobs that have gone to other countries back into the US, and $5 million in loan guarantees to help advance innovative manufacturing technologies.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – NASA is funded at $16.8 billion in the bill, which is $1.6 billion below last year’s level and $1.9 billion below the President’s request. This funding includes:

$4.5 billion for NASA Science programs, which is $431 million below FY11 enacted levels. The bill also terminates funding for the James Webb Space Telescope.

National Science Foundation (NSF) – The legislation funds NSF at $6.9 billion, the same as last year’s level and $907 million below the President’s request. Within this funding, NSF’s core research is increased by $43 million to enhance basic research that is critical to innovation and US economic competitiveness.

Other Provisions – The bill includes several general provisions, including:

A prohibition on the transfer or release of Guantanamo detainees into the U.S.
Rescissions of over $1 billion in unobligated balances left over from previous years
A prohibition on NASA or the Office of Science and Technology Policy from engaging in bilateral activities with China unless authorized by Congress.

Budget & Appropriations Update

Posted on July 6, 2011October 17, 2012

Latest Budget Talks: President Obama has summoned lawmakers to the White House Thursday for a fresh round of talks on the budget and debt limit. While some progress has been made over the holiday weekend, but there is the two sides are still a long way apart if they want to reach agreement before the August 2 deadline for raising the nation’s borrowing limit. The President supports the idea of increasing revenue to reach a deal and but is opposed to a short-term extension of the nation’s borrowing authority — an idea floated by some Republicans — saying it would only “kick the can down the road.”

Meanwhile, Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND), is aiming to influence those talks by releasing a FY12 budget resolution on today. T he long-delayed spending and tax blueprint will aim to trim the deficit by at least $4 trillion over a decade by closing tax loopholes, cutting spending, and reducing interest payments on the debt.

Appropriations: The House will resume debate on the FY12 Defense appropriations bill today. The chamber is expected to focus largely on foreign policy issues rather than Pentagon spending as it considers amendments under an open rule. Overall, the $530.5 billion bill is $8.9 billion less than President Obama’s budget request and $17 billion (3.3 percent) more than the FY11 enacted level. The House is expected to focus on amendment debate today, with a passage vote on the usually bipartisan measure on Thursday or Friday.

The FY12 Defense appropriations measure will be the fourth spending bill to pass in the House, where appropriators and GOP leaders have vowed to restore “regular order” to the appropriations process. The chamber may take up the Energy-Water appropriations measure later in the week. That bill contains significant cuts and would provide nearly 19 percent less funding than the President requested.

Details on an additional three spending bills are due to be released today. The FY12 Legislative Branch, Interior-Environment, and Commerce-Justice-Science measures are all expected to be marked up Thursday morning by their respective House subcommittees. House appropriators have been releasing draft text and summaries of spending bills a day before subcommittee markups in an effort at increased transparency. The Office of Federal Relations will provide more details on these bills when the drafts are made public.