IP: FYI #108 - Move to Cut NSF $

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

The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
Number 108: July 17, 1998


Move Made in House to Cut NSF Research Funds


Support for federal research funding is popular in Washington. 
Several bills have been introduced to double research funding. 
The White House sent Congress a budget  to increase federal
dollars for civilian research.  In these efforts, the National
Science Foundation has been cited as a shining example of how
federal research support should work -- important research being
funded free of political interference and with thorough merit
review.


Earlier this week the House passed the National Science
Foundation Reauthorization Act (H.R. 1273) that authorizes
approximately $11.2 billion for the foundation over the years FY
1998-2000.  House Science Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner
(R-WI) stated that the bill  represents "a positive, bipartisan
approach to maintaining science policy as a high priority on
Congress's agenda."


It is almost taken for granted by the science community that
Congress sees NSF in a positive light.  That is, however, seems
not always to be the case.  During the floor debate on H.R. 1273,
Rep. Mark Sanford (R), representing Charleston and the coastal
counties of South Carolina, rose to state his opposition to the
NSF portion of the VA/HUD Appropriations Bill that the House is
now considering.   He said, "...we need a tighter grip on the way
they spend money; that when people back home think about spending
a dollar, they really run through a lot of priorities, and they
run through a lot of interests that they have before they decide
on actually spending that dollar, and that this organization
ought to do the same."  He criticized NSF support of research "to
study ATMs,"  "collaborative activity on poker," and "cheap
talk," among others.  Sanford wants to cut at least $200 million
from NSF's FY 1999 research budget "to tighten the pencil a
little bit."


The "ATMs" that Sanford cited are not money machines, but
"Asynchronous Transfer Modes" used in high speed networking. 
"Poker" is not the card game, but research on social interaction
used to study decision making processes.  Economic models use
"cheap talk" in describing the cost of information.


Sanford is unlikely to prevail, but the degree of his  knowledge
about the National Science Foundation and the work it sponsors is
probably the rule, rather than the exception, among his
colleagues.  As representatives and senators vote on the NSF
appropriation, and other science and technology related
appropriations in coming weeks, many will ponder how many
constituent calls and letters they have received about, and in
support of, federally supported research and development. 


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Richard M. Jones
Public Information Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi () aip org
(301) 209-3095
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