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The House Appropriations Committee recommended a record $5.4 billion budget for the National Science Foundation (NSF) with its approval of the Department of Veterans Affairs and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies (VA-HUD) fiscal year 2003 appropriations bill. This budget represents a 13% increase over last year's level for NSF and places it on the path to double its budget in five years.

Within the budget, House appropriators allocated $4.1 billion to the Research and Related Activities (R&RA) account, of which $1 million is for the Math and Physical Sciences Directorate and $40 million for Major Research Instrumentation. For areas not specifically mentioned in the bill, appropriators direct NSF to "give the highest priority to increasing research opportunities for investigator-initiated research in the core scientific disciplines" when allocating the increases.

Regarding NSF's Education and Human Resources Account, the House appropriators provided $910 million, a 4% increase and level funding ($160 million) for the Math and Science Partnership Program.

Besides allocating funds to NSF, House appropriators directed NSF to have the National Academy of Public Administration conduct a study of the agency's organization, programmatic, and personnel structures to "provide assurance to the public that the agency is positioned to maximize the opportunities which increased funding can create."

The Senate Appropriations Committee provided a 12% increase for NSF and distributed the funding slightly differently than the House. The main difference between how the Senate and House appropriators allocated funding for NSF's programs was their approach to the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account. The Senate drastically reduced funding for MREFC by $80 million, because "despite repeated concerns expressed by the Congress and the Inspector General, NSF has not addressed adequately the management and funding problems associated with large research facilities funded through" the MREFC account. In addition, Senate appropriators and NSF's authorizing committees asked the National Academy of Sciences to assist in developing a process for prioritizing funding projects out of the MREFC account.

Currently, neither chamber has passed the fiscal year 2003 VA-HUD appropriations bill. Once each chamber passes its respective VA-HUD bills, select members of the House and Senate will meet to reconcile differences in conference and submit a conference report for approval. Both chambers must approve the conference report before it can be sent to the President and signed into law. NSF, like other government agencies except the Department of Defense, are currently operating at the fiscal year 2002 levels until Congress comes back after elections and finishes its appropriations work.

To read all the comments made by House and Senate appropriators visit Thomas Legislative Information on the Internet fiscal year 2003 appropriations information and go to S.Rpt.107-222 to read the Senate comments and H.Rpt.107-740 to read comments by House appropriators. Budget information on NSF appropriations can also be found at the fiscal year 2003 R&D chart [PDF].

This article first appeared on October 28, 2002.