"[A]ll of us want to get a budget done as quickly as possible,
[and] get the appropriations process done. We're making very good
progress on coming up with the size of the ultimate budget. And once
that's decided, we pledged to work together to get the appropriations
bills moving as quickly as possible. That would be a welcome relief
from the old budget battles of the past."
So declared President George Bush this morning after a meeting with
congressional leaders, alluding to an agreement struck between key
Members of Congress and the White House. This deal removes the most
significant obstacle that blocked completion of the 13 appropriations
bills, and greatly increases the probability that an education reform
bill will be signed into law.
The key that unlocked the appropriations bills was a forthcoming
letter from President Bush acknowledging the need for $25 billion more
in FY 2002 discretionary spending than what was agreed to earlier this
year in the budget resolution. This extra spending will almost certainly
involve using a portion of the Social Security surplus. It had been
apparent to Republicans and Democrats on both ends of Pennsylvania
Avenue that the extra money would be needed, but a mechanism had to be
found to ensure that this would not become a campaign issue in the
election next year. The key Republican and Democratic House
appropriators wanted the President to send Congress a formal budget
amendment. The White House balked at making this a formal request, and
after some lengthy negotiations, it was agreed that a letter would be
sent to Congress. Reportedly the appropriators resisted this mechanism,
but were overridden by their parties' leaders.
The additional $25 billion will be used for defense purposes ($18.4
billion), storm and wildfire emergency spending ($2.2 billion), and
education ($4 billion.) The President has said that as long as the 13
appropriations bills do not add up to more than $686 billion in
discretionary spending he will sign them, as long as they are "otherwise
acceptable."
Appropriations staff are resolving differences in the House and
Senate versions of already passed bills, and preparing other bills for
consideration. Five of these bills are of particular interest to the
physics community. Both the VA/HUD and the Energy and Water Development
bills have a wide disparity in their overall funding levels that will
have to be settled. The Commerce appropriations bills treat the Advanced
Technology Program very differently. Finally, the Defense and Labor-HHS-
Education bills have not yet gone to either floor. Until these
appropriations bills are signed into law, continuing resolutions will be
used to assure funding.
The availability of an additional $4 billion for education programs
in the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill may enable conference
committee members to move forward on the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA), which would reauthorize and reform many Education
Department programs. While both the House and Senate had completed their
versions of ESEA before the August recess, and while many minor
differences have since been resolved, major disagreements still remain
on funding and school performance measures. To help reach agreement on
funding issues, conferees were reportedly looking to the Labor- HHS
appropriators to see how much money would be made available for programs
reauthorized by ESEA.
The House version of ESEA would authorize $5 billion over
current-year funding, while the Senate bill would provide more than $14
billion over the current level of $18.6 billion. Both bills contain some
version of a Math and Science Partnership initiative, whereby university
science and math departments could work with states and local school
districts to improve science and math education. This initiative would
take the place of the Eisenhower professional development funding for
science and math teachers. (See FYI #80 for
details of the partnership programs.)
Because the jurisdiction of the Labor-HHS-Education appropriators
extends to Department of Education programs beyond those in ESEA, it is
not yet obvious how the extra $4 billion for FY 2002 education
appropriations will affect the funding available for ESEA. Labor-HHS
appropriators in the House tentatively plan to begin marking up their
bill tonight. There have been some rumors that, in order to get
education reform passed this year, ESEA authorizers might try to attach
their bill to the must-pass Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, but
conferees must still resolve the remaining issues on ESEA, and whether
that tactic will be attempted is not yet known.
Richard M. Jones, Audrey T. Leath
Media and
Government Relations Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi@aip.org
(301) 209-3095/3094
