IP: BUDGET DEAL: ANOTHER FIVE YEARS OF CUTS IN SCIENCE

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

1. BUDGET DEAL: ANOTHER FIVE YEARS OF CUTS IN SCIENCE FUNDING? 
It looks like a done deal.  The House and Senate failed to reach
a final agreement before the Memorial Day break.  Differences are
small, but reconciliation will have to wait.  As it stands, the
agreement is bad news for science. Budget Function 250, General
Science, Space and Technology, would drop 7% by 2002, the year
the budget is supposed to be in balance.  That's on top of the 7%
cut in science spending over the past five years.  It came down
to a choice between investment and tax cuts.  George Brown's
"Investment Budget" (WN 28 Mar 97), which called for annual
increases of 5% in research, but no tax cuts, was offered in the
House as a substitute; it was defeated 91-339.  Meanwhile, a
General Accounting Office report was released showing that
investment in research, infrastructure and education has already
dropped from 2.6% of the GDP in 1981 to 1.9% in 1996.