BUDGET; HOUSE PASSES TWO RESEARCH BILLS

The House has voted on a pair of bills to boost basic research funding to the floor this week. Late Wednesday, lawmakers passed a bill that would authorize funding for the National Science Foundation. Thursday afternoon the House approved a measure that would authorize funding increases for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.


Wednesday's bill, H.R. 1867, would authorize NSF funding increases through fiscal 2010. The measure, passed 385-23, would keep NSF on track to double its budget in 10 years, a goal of broader pending competitiveness initiatives.


"These bills include important support for American innovation through funding for R&D, math and science education, and other key areas," said Phil Bond, president and CEO of the Information Technology Association of America. "Funding in these areas is critical for our nation's ability to compete in a global economy and ultimately for our continued prosperity."


"The cutting-edge work supported by the NSF and NIST helps U.S. companies bring new products and services to the marketplace and, as a result, our economy, workers and consumers all benefit," said Matt Flanigan, interim CEO of the Electronic Industries Alliance.


Ralph Hall of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Science and Technology Committee, said NSF "is the primary source of federal funding for non-medical basic research conducted at colleges and universities, and serves as a catalyst for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education reform at all levels. The returns that we receive from our NSF investments far exceed the costs" of the $16.4 billion in proposed funding. The NIST bill, H.R. 1868, would authorize more than $1.5 billion between fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2010 for laboratory research. While the legislation passed 399-17, the White House has issued a statement opposing it.


One reason is that it would authorize $22 million less than President Bush requested in his 2008 budget proposal. But the bigger controversy is that the administration claims the bill essentially would revive the Advanced Technology Program targeted for years for elimination by Bush.


The measure would authorize subsidized management consulting activities at a program called the Technology Innovation Program in an effort to transfer technology from labs to manufacturing. "The House bill would divert NIST resources from core basic research activities toward less meritorious industrial policy," the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.


Despite those objections, the bill has not lost the support of key Republicans like Hall, who said NIST has a unique history of working directly with American industry for measurement methods, tools, data and technology. "These are the building blocks that allow industry to grow and prosper," Hall said.


A few blocks from the House, at an American Association for the Advancement of Science event, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director John Marburger did not voice any complaints about H.R. 1868. In response to questions after his speech, Marburger spoke generally of the need for increased NIST funding.


House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., told the association he was disappointed that H.R. 1867 would double funding for NSF over 10 years rather than five, but he said that approach is a "budget reality."


As for H.R. 1868, Gordon said, "We're going to try get that done, and I think we're going to be successful." - By Heather Greenfield