With both the Senate and House having taken action on most of the twelve FY12 appropriations bills and the federal government having begun FY12 on continuing resolutions (CRs) through November 18, the stage is set (I hope) for resolution of the FY12 budget. Let me review where we are at and again ask you to contact your Senators and Representative about the importance of science and statistical agency budgets.
There was much speculation last November about what the newly elected Congress would mean for science funding, as described in my blog entry, "
How will basic research funding fare in the next Congress?" Most tended to be along the lines of the NY Times piece,
"Money for Scientific Research May Be Scarce With a Republican-Led House," so it may be a surprise to many that the House marks for both NSF and NIH are higher than the Senate marks. Indeed, Chairman Frank Wolf's (R-VA) mark for NSF
––approved by the House Appropriations Committee but awaiting floor action
––holds the NSF budget at its FY11 level, while the Senate NSF mark
––also approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee with floor action scheduled for next week
––cuts NSF by 2.4%.
For NIH, the Senate level cuts the FY12 NIH budget by 0.6% while Chairman Denny Rehberg's (R-MT) House mark increases the NIH budget by 3%, to the level requested by the Obama Administration. (The Senate level has been approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee but Chairman Rehberg's recommended level has yet to be considered by the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations subcommittee.)
For further NSF and NIH budget details, see the table tracking the FY12 NSF and NIH budget developments at the blog entry, "
Congress Continues Work on FY12 Budget: Senate cuts NSF 2.4% and Census by 8%."
The picture is mixed for the statistical agencies, as the table tracking the FY12 statistical agency budget developments at the blog entry, "
FY12 Statistical Agency Budget Developments," illustrates. Bright spots are a $10 million increase (1.6%) for BLS recommended in Chairman's Rehberg's bill and a $5 million dollar increase (19%) Chairwoman Murray's (D-WA) Senate mark. The major concerns are the deep cuts by the House for the Census Bureau (17%), BJS (22%) and ERS (15%). The Senate has an even deeper cut for BJS (25%) but less severe
––but still concerning
––cuts for the Census Bureau (8%) and ERS (5%).
To date, only the Census Bureau has issued impact statements for the House and Senate marks. The House mark would mean the cancelling of the Economic Census. The Senate mark, while better than the House mark, still has many serious consequences including cancelling the following: undercount estimates for the 2010 decennial (and other 2010 decennial products), supplemental poverty measures, data collection for group quarters in the American Community Survey, the Survey of Business Owners, and the Business Expense Survey.
Even agencies that have escaped major cuts so far would still have to contend with inflationary increases. Furthermore, additional cuts are still possible in the remaining steps to finalize the FY12 budget.
How the FY12 budget is finally resolved is still an open question. Possibilities include an omnibus bill (where all 12 appropriations bill are combined into one bill), minibuses (where subsets of the 12 appropriations bills are combined), and a year-long CR (where the FY11 budget is extended through all of FY12, with adjustments.)
With the FY12 budget still in play, and steeper cuts likely for FY13, it's important for ASA members to communicate the importance of these agencies to their Senators and Representatives.