Senate Passes and President Signs FY2008 Supplemental Appropriations Bill
On the evening of June 26, before adjourning for the Fourth of July recess, the Senate approved the $162 billion fiscal year 2008 (FY2008) emergency supplemental appropriations bill (H.R. 2646), passing the second amendment that consists of domestic spending by an overwhelming vote of 92 to 6. The Senate approved the domestic spending package a week after the House of Representatives gave its endorsement and after FASEB had
thanked House leaders for including science funding therein. The Senate passage came after months of partisan wrangling and negotiations between House leaders and the White House and after all parties had reached an agreement on the substance of the bill about two weeks prior to the vote.
Overall, the supplemental spending bill consists of two amendments: the first includes $165.4 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the summer of 2009; and the second reduces the $165.4 billion to $161.8 billion to provide an additional $3.6 billion for other initiatives that are not directly related to the wars. On June 26, the Senate only considered the second amendment because it had passed the first amendment
that allocates war funding by 70 to 26 in May.
The $3.6 billion second amendment to the bill includes $150 million for the National Institutes of Health, and $62.5 million each for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the Department of Energy’s Environmental Cleanup Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The bill also includes an additional $150 million for the Food and Drug Administration for food and medical product safety.
The day after the Senate passed the bill, Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle gave the bill high marks and predicted that the President would sign it. The bill moved quickly to the President for his signature since he was eager to provide more funding to the troops, and true to the White House’s June 19
Statement of Administration Policy in support of the bill,
the President
signed the supplemental into law on June 30.
As the President signed it, he praised
congressional leaders for working with the White
House to finalize the bill and stated that the
final version holds overall discretionary
spending, which includes additional funds for
science in FY2008, to the sensible limits he
requested.
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Appropriations Committees Continue Markups
During the past few weeks, committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate have continued to mark up the fiscal year 2009 (FY2009) appropriations bills. While House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) said this week that the House will not consider any further FY2009 appropriations measures this year, the Senate is planning to complete its full committee markup of the twelve appropriations bills by the end of July before members leave for their month-long August recess. So far, the bills provide substantial funding increases for research at government agencies over last year.
Although none of the FY2009 appropriations bills has made it to the floor of either the House or Senate for a vote, and although it’s unlikely that both chambers of Congress will pass any of the twelve appropriations bills until after the election in November, the funding increases in the bills will function as placeholders and help drive discussions
next year when the House and Senate do pass the bills.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Although the full House Appropriations Committee postponed its June 25 markup of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (L-HHS) FY2009 appropriations bill, the Senate on June 24 and June 26, respectively, managed to shuttle its own version of the L-HHS bill through both L-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee and full Appropriations Committee markups. Although the funding increase for NIH in the L-HHS appropriations bill that the full Senate Appropriations Committee approved for FY2009 is not as steep as it is in the appropriations bill that the House L-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee adopted in its June 19 markup, it is still substantial.
Whereas the FY2009 L-HHS appropriations bill that the House L-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee passed includes $30.4 billion for NIH, the Senate L-HHS appropriations bill provides $30.2 billion to fund biomedical research at the 27 Institutes and Centers that comprise the NIH. The $30.2 billion represents a $1.025 billion increase over the fiscal year 2008 (FY2008) level and the President’s budget request.
The Senate Appropriations Committee’s press release for the FY2009 L-HHS appropriations bill is available
here.
The Senate Committee on Appropriations has also issued a notice that it will meet in open session on July 16 to hear testimony on the FY2009 budget request for NIH. This is a meeting that the Committee had planned to have earlier this year and rescheduled. Witnesses will include: NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, M.D.; the Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D.; the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, M.D.; the Director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Elizabeth Nabel, M.D.; and the Director of the National Cancer Institute John Niederhuber, M.D.
National Science Foundation (NSF)
After the full Senate Appropriations Committee on June 19 cleared its FY2009 Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) appropriations bill, which includes $6.9 billion for NSF, the full House Appropriations Committee passed its own version of the FY2009 CJS appropriations bill on June 25 by voice vote. Like the Senate bill, the House bill allocates $6.9 billion in funding above the FY2008 level and matches the President’s budget request to promote the progress of science. The $6.9 billion provides $50 million more than the President’s request for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education activities. The increase over FY2008 in the appropriations bills for NSF would put NSF on track to double its funding over ten years as part of the Innovation Agenda to keep America competitive in the global market.
The House Appropriations Committee’s press release for the FY2009 CJS appropriations bill is available
here.
Department of Energy (DOE)
After the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development (Energy and Water) cleared the Energy and Water appropriations bill on June 17, the full House Appropriations Committee approved the bill by voice vote on June 25. The House bill includes $4.9 billion for DOE’s Office of Science, which is $140 million above the President’s budget request and $844 million over the actual appropriation in FY2008. According to the Committee’s
press release, the $4.9 billion would make “a significant investment in basic research [that is] critical to addressing long-term energy needs.” The additional $140 million over FY2008 would provide for 2,600 more research personnel at DOE, “producing highly educated scientists and engineers whose innovations drive economic growth.”
The Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee
quickly followed
suit on July 8,
when it passed
its own $33 billion FY2009 Energy and Water appropriations bill. The Senate Subcommittee cleared the bill on a voice vote with no audible opposition although Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-MS) did allude to the possibility of a presidential veto. The Senate bill includes slightly less money for DOE’s Office of Science than the House version, allocating $4.649 billion in FY2009, which is $623 million above the actual appropriation in FY2008 and represents a 16 percent increase in FY2009.
Unlike the increase the House Subcommittee recommended for DOE’s Office of Science, the increase the Senate panel suggested for the Office of Science would fall slightly short of putting the Office’s budget back on track to double from 2006 to 2013, in keeping with the America COMPETES Act that Congress enacted last year. The purpose of that Act was to increase federal spending on fundamental research in the physical sciences to help improve America’s global economic competitiveness.
Two days later, on July 10, the full Senate Appropriations Committee gave bipartisan approval to the Energy and Water appropriations bill. Although the measure initially passed by a 29-0 vote, Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) later asked for his removal from the tally. Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-MS) expressed hope that the bill would make it to the Senate floor in the near future.
The Senate Appropriations Committee’s press release for the FY2009 Energy and Water appropriations bill is available
here.
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
On June 19, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies (Agriculture) marked up its FY2009 appropriations bill. The bill includes $202 million for the USDA’s National Research Initiative (NRI), which is a 5.8% increase in funding over FY2008. Factoring the funds in the Integrated Account into the NRI estimate puts the funds in the bill for NRI at $244 million.
According to House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Rosa DeLauro’s (D-CT)
press release, “agriculture… occupies a position at the forefront of groundbreaking research, scientific discovery, and development.” The Chairwoman further provides that “if we want to maintain our role as a global leader, we must maintain our lead in crop development, competitiveness, international trade, nutrition research, food safety and even homeland security.”
The Senate has not yet scheduled its own markup of the Agriculture appropriations bill but plans to consider
it prior to the end of July.
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
After the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies (MilCon-VA) marked up the FY2009 MilCon-VA appropriations bill on June 12, the full House Appropriations Committee easily cleared the $72.7 billion spending measure by voice vote on June 24. The bill continues the historic increase in funding for the VA that began last year. The bill includes $47.7 billion in discretionary spending, which amounts to $2.9 billion above the budget request and $4.6 billion more that the actual FY2008 level.
Specifically, the bill provides $500 million for Medical and Prosthetic Research, which is $20 million above the FY2008 level and which constitutes a rejection of the $38 million funding cut the President requested in his FY2009 budget for the program. The $500 million is for research to help improve the quality of life for injured and aging veterans and restores the cuts to the trauma and mental health research that is important to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The House Appropriations Committee’s press release for the FY2009 MilCon-VA appropriations bill is available
here.
The Senate has not yet scheduled its own markup of the VA appropriations bill but plans to consider it prior to the end of July.
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New FASEB President Richard Marchase, Ph.D. Describes Priorities for Upcoming Year
 Richard B. Marchase, Ph.D. took office as the 93rd president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) on July 1, 2008. Marchase serves as the Vice President for Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and as a professor of cell biology. FASEB is a coalition of 21 member societies, which represents more than 80,000 biomedical research scientists worldwide.
Dr. Marchase, who plans to continue to spearhead FASEB’s efforts to engage voters on critical science policy issues, provided that “the upcoming Presidential election and the incoming administration present unique opportunities to highlight the importance of biomedical research on a national scale.” He added further that “it is vital that our nation’s leaders recognize the value of agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. I look forward to working with Congress and the new Administration to build a sustainable commitment for scientific research.”
Dr. Marchase pointed to recent appropriations bills from Congress that include increases in funding for science as evidence that research is gaining ground as a national priority. “However, as FASEB President, funding is not going to be my only focus,” he continued. “With public funding comes a justifiable need for accountability in how these funds are used. The challenge is in establishing systems that ensure the public trust in a manner that does not create unnecessary regulatory burdens nor unduly delay scientific progress. FASEB will be addressing these issues on a number of fronts over the next year, from biosecurity to conflict-of-interest, to animal and human subjects protection.”
Dr. Marchase has several active awards from the National Institutes of Health for research infrastructure and to support his laboratory, which studies the effects of hyperglycemia on recovery from trauma. A graduate of The John’s Hopkins University (Ph.D., Biophysics), Marchase has received many honors in his career, including one of the inaugural Presidential Young Investigator Awards from the National Science Foundation. He moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1986, and from 1990 to 2000 served as Chair of the Department of Cell Biology. Dr. Marchase is a member of the American Association of Anatomists and has served as a member of its Public Affairs Committee and represented it at FASEB Funding Consensus Conferences prior to his joining the FASEB Board of Directors in 2002. He also served as President of the Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology, and Neurobiology Chairs and was the group’s representative to the National Caucus of Basic Biomedical Science Chairs.
FASEB would also like to
congratulate Mark O. Lively, Ph.D., who has
become FASEB’s President-Elect.
Dr.
Lively is a professor of biochemistry at Wake
Forest University (WFU) School of Medicine and is the Director of the WFU
Biomolecular Resource Laboratory.
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Coalition for National Science Funding Holds Its Fourteenth Annual Capitol Hill Exhibition
On June 25, the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), of which FASEB is a member, held its Fourteenth Annual Exhibition and Reception in the House of Representatives. The exhibit, which FASEB co-sponsored and helped organize, was a huge success with an extremely large turnout. Over 400 people attended the event, including seven members of Congress. Representatives who participated in the event were: Judy Biggert (R-IL); Jim Moran (D-VA); Vern Ehlers (R-MI); Rush Holt (D-NJ); Ralph Hall (R-TX); Dennis Kucinich (D-OH); and David Price (D-NC).
CNSF is an alliance of over 120 organizations that unite over their common concern for the future vitality of the national science, mathematics and engineering enterprise. According to its
mission statement, CNSF’s goal is to increase the national investment in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) research and education programs in response to the unprecedented scientific, technological and economic opportunities facing the United States.
The American Mathematical Society spearheaded the event, and 32 societies and universities set up exhibits featuring science, mathematics and engineering research and education projects that NSF supports. Researchers, educators and students from all over the U.S. answered questions regarding their efforts to help meet the nation’s research and education goals.
The diverse nature of the exhibit highlighted the broad range of basic research that NSF supports. For example, the various exhibits included: the American Geological Institute’s “Singing Icebergs and Climate Change;” the American Mathematical Society’s “Mathematics and Cardiology: Partners for the Future;” the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ “Synthesis of Nanomaterials;” Michigan State University’s “Modeling, Sensing and Control Using Artificial Muscles;” and the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences’ “Police Officers, Training, and Racial Bias in the Decision to Shoot.”
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