3 Oct
2011
3 Oct
'11
7:44 p.m.
Dear all,
It's time to become activists for science. See below.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Funding cuts to NSF, NIST
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2011 19:39:19 -0400
From: opa(a)aps.org
Reply-To: opa(a)aps.org
To: alan(a)aspuru.com
URGENT ALERT TO THE APS MEMBERSHIP: FUNDING CUTS TO NSF, NIST
THE ISSUE IN BRIEF: The Senate Appropriations Committee has proposed
cuts to both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in its FY 2012 budget
for Commerce, Justice and Science agencies.
DETAILS: In a September 15 markup, the Committee cut spending for
several science agencies in the $52.701 billion plan it approved for
those portions of the FY 2012 federal budget. The science portion
of the budget is $626 million, or 1.2%, below the total CJS budget
for the current fiscal year, and nearly $5 billion below the
president's 2012 request for those agencies. This included cuts
to the NSF and NIST budgets.
Under that budget, NSF has been cut by $161,077,000, or 2.3%, from
the current fiscal year.s $6.86 billion and nearly 14% below the
$7.767 billion requested by the Administration.
The NIST budget was cut by $70 million, or 9.3%, to $680 million.
Those cuts included elimination of funding for all new grants under
its competitive construction program and trimmed construction funding
to $60 million from $69.86 million in the current fiscal year; Obama
proposed $84.6 million. NIST also saw the Senate panel eliminate
funding for two of its programs, the Technology Innovation Program,
and the Baldridge Performance Excellence Program, which promotes
management among businesses, schools, and other organizations.
In order to keep activities moving forward, Senators need to hear
from us that the FY 2012 NSF budget should be no lower than the FY 2011
NSF budget, the level the House Appropriations Committee has proposed.
Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Subcommittee Chair
Barbara Mikulski stated that the science budget cuts were made
grudgingly -- she has been an ardent supporter of NSF and NIST funding,
but said that she had less to work with for the FY 2012 budget.
Mikulski's subcommittee had less to spend in writing this bill.
The total discretionary budget authority in this legislation is $52.701
billion, a reduction of $626 million or 1.2 percent from the current
fiscal year. However, other areas of the CJS budget were increased.
Therefore, it is important for APS members to let their Senators
know that cuts to NSF and NIST budgets are damaging and that money
should be found to restore them. For NSF, this means, at a minimum,
matching what the House did: keeping funding at the FY2011 level.
ACTION REQUIRED: Contact your Senators IMMEDIATELY to emphasize
the devastating impact on American science, innovation and economic
growth the Senate plan would cause. To assist you in framing your
message, we have provided pre-written messages to your senators
and representative, which you should personalize or rewrite as you
deem appropriate:
http://www.aps.org/link/alert.cfm
(See webpage pointers below for further instruction.)
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