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A letter signed by 155 Members of U.S. House of Representatives urges Congress to appropriate $6.39 billion for the National Science Foundation in FY 2004, an increase of $1.08 billion relative to FY 2003. "We believe that Congress' long-term goal should be to at least double the NSF's resources," says the letter of June 3, 2003.
The letter supports the funding level specified in the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002, which sets out a path to double the NSF budget in five years. The President's FY 2004 budget request for NSF falls far short of the doubling path (see the December 2002 and March 2003 issues of the Science, Environment and Policy Report).
The NSF Authorization Act sets policy and provides guidance, but it does not directly establish the agency's funding levels. Funding levels for NSF are determined in a series of annual appropriations bills. The letter focuses on the FY 2004 appropriations cycle. It is addressed to Rep. James Walsh (R-NY) and Rep. Alan Mollohon (D-WV), who serve as Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively, of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies, which has jurisdiction over appropriations for the National Science Foundation.
The National Council for Science and the Environment works with a broad coalition of scientific organizations to promote implementation of the NSF Authorization Act of 2002. Congressional staff have informed NCSE that Members of Congress who did not sign the letter of June 3, 2003 are encouraged to draft their own letter to the Appropriations Committee or to contact Rep. Ehlers (R-MI) in order to add their signatures to a forthcoming addendum. The full text of the letter is provided below.
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
June 3, 2003
The Honorable James T. Walsh The Honorable Alan B. Mollohan
Chairman Ranking Member
Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and IA Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and IA
House Committee on Appropriations House Committee on Appropriations
Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Walsh and Ranking Member Mollohan:
We are writing as longtime supporters of fundamental scientific research and education. Science and technology fuel the growth of our economy, provide the means of our national security, and inspire our children. Many of the benefits we reap today stem from wise investments made decades ago. Last year, Congress recognized we must continue to invest in America's scientific enterprise by overwhelmingly passing the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-368). This legislation authorizes a path toward doubling the National Science Foundation (NSF) over the next five years. In order to meet this goal we request a funding level of $6.39 billion for Fiscal Year 2004.
NSF's impact over the past half century has been monumental. Ideas first conceived in the labs of NSF-funded researchers now permeate our daily lives; helping both our economy and our war in Iraq and on terrorism. These achievements include Internet browsers, Doppler weather radar, fiber optics, earthquake hazard mitigation, even the geographic information systems used to coordinate rescue efforts at the World Trade Center. NSF-funded projects have found planets around other stars, created nanoscale carbon "buckyballs," helped develop lasers, wireless communications, and global positioning technology, and have garnered over 100 Nobel Prizes.
NSF is also vital to supplying our nation with scientists, engineers, and skilled technological workers. NSF provides grants to college-level scientists for cutting-edge research and technology. These scientists train students, many of whom then go into industry and become a crucial part of the knowledge transfer between universities and industry. A five-year study released in 1997 showed that technology transfer from academic research added more than $21 billion—supporting 180,000 jobs—to the American economy each year.
There has never been a more critical or opportune time to bolster the education of America's children. NSF's math and science education programs work at the pre-college level to raise the scientific and technological literacy of our children, who are tomorrow's workers, teachers, consumers, and public citizens. NSF further aims to improve the skills and content knowledge of K-12 math and science teachers through innovative programs such as Math and Science Partnerships. NSF programs have become important resources for broadening the participation of under-represented groups such as minorities and women in science, math, and engineering.
Last year, Congress completed a five-year, $13.7-billion effort to double the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). While this successful effort has fueled tremendous opportunities in health-related research, these opportunities require continued investment in the physical sciences. For example, related technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, digital mammography, and genomic mapping could not have occurred, and cannot now improve to the next level of proficiency, without underlying knowledge from NSF-supported work in biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, and computer sciences. Doubling the NIH's budget has thrown off the relative balance in funding between NSF and NIH.
We believe that it is critical to restore this balance starting this year, and that it can be accomplished even during tight budgets. In fact, last year we increased NIH's budget by $3.6-billion to complete the doubling commitment. This increase is over half of what we are requesting for NSF's entire budget.
We ask you to address this imbalance and strengthen science and technology research, development, and education by increasing the NSF budget to $6.39 billion for FY2004. The increase would be used to expand core science programs, enabling NSF to begin funding highly ranked grant proposals that are turned down solely for lack of funding. It would also fund K-12 education programs that are critical for improving math and science education throughout the country, as well as large facility projects that have already been approved by the National Science Board.
We believe that Congress' long-term goal should be to at least double the NSF's resources, and we respectively request your support in achieving this goal.
Sincerely,
Abercrombie, Neil (D-HI)
Ackerman, Gary L. (D-NY)
Alexander, Rodney (D-LA)
Allen, Thomas H. (D-ME)
Baker, Richard H. (R-LA)
Baldwin, Tammy (D-WI)
Ballance, Frank (D-NC)
Bartlett, Roscoe G. (R-MD)
Bell, Chris (D-TX)
Berman, Howard L. (D-CA)
Biggert, Judy (R-IL)
Bishop, Rob (R-UT)
Bishop, Tim (D-NY)
Boehlert, Sherwood L. (R-NY)
Boswell, Leonard L. (D-IA)
Boucher, Rick (D-VA)
Brady, Kevin (R-TX)
Brown, Corrine (D-FL)
Brown, Sherrod (D-OH)
Brown-Waite, Ginny (R-FL)
Calvert, Ken (R-CA)
Camp, Dave (R-MI)
Capps, Lois (D-CA)
Capuano, Michael E. (D-MA)
Cardin, Benjamin L. (D-MD)
Cardoza, Dennis (D-CA)
Clay, William (D-MO)
Cole, Tom (R-OK)
Cooper, Jim (D-TN)
Costello, Jerry F. (D-IL)
Cox, Christopher (R-CA)
Cummings, Elijah E. (D-MD)
Davis, Danny K. (D-IL)
Davis, Lincoln (D-TN)
Davis, Susan A. (D-CA)
Davis, Tom (R-VA)
DeFazio, Peter A. (D-OR)
Delahunt, William D. (D-MA)
DeLauro, Rosa L. (D-CT)
Dingell, John D. (D-MI)
Doggett, Lloyd (D-TX)
Doyle, Mike F. (D-PA)
Dreier, David (R-CA,)
Duncan, John J., Jr. (R-TN)
Ehlers, Vernon J. (R-MI)
Engel, Eliot L. (D-NY)
English, Phil (R-PA)
Etheridge, Bob (D-NC)
Evans, Lane (D-IL)
Filner, Bob (D-CA)
Frank, Barney (D-MA)
Frost, Martin (D-TX)
| Gilchrest, Wayne T. (R-MD)
Gillmore, Paul (R-OH)
Gonzales, Charles A. (D-TX)
Gordon, Bart (D-TN)
Green, Gene (D-TX)
Green, Mark (R-WI)
Grijalva, Raul (D-AZ)
Gutierrez, Luis V. (D-IL)
Gutknecht, Gil (R-MN)
Hall, Ralph M. (D-TX)
Harman, Jane (D-CA)
Hart, Melissa (R-PA)
Hayworth, J.D. (R-AZ)
Hill, Baron (D-IN)
Hinchey, Maurice (D-NY)
Hinojosa, Rubén (D-TX)
Hoeffel, Joseph M. (D-PA)
Holt, Rush D. (D-NJ)
Honda, Michael M. (D-CA)
Hooley, Darlene (D-OR)
Houghton, Amo (R-NY)
Israel, Steve (D-NY)
Jackson-Lee, Sheila (D-TX)
Jefferson, William J. (D-LA)
Johnson, Eddie Bernice (D-TX)
Johnson, Timothy V. (R-IL)
Jones, Stephanie Tubbs (D-OH)
Kildee, Dale E. (D-MI)
Kind, Ron (D-WI)
Langevin, James (D-RI)
Lantos, Tom (D-CA)
Larsen, Rick (D-WA)
Larson, John B. (D-CT)
Leach, James A. (R-IA)
Lee, Barbara (D-CA)
Levin, Sander M. (D-MI)
Lipinski, William O. (D-IL)
Lofgren, Zoe (D-CA)
Lynch, Stephen F. (D-MA)
Maloney, Carolyn (D-NY)
Markey, Edward J. (D-MA)
Matheson, Jim (D-UT)
Matsui, Robert (D-CA)
McCarthy, Carolyn (D-NY)
McCollum, Betty (D-MN)
McCotter, Thad (R-MI)
McCrery, Jim (R-LA)
McDermott, Jim (D-WA)
McGovern, James P. (D-MA)
McIntyre, Mike (D-NC)
McNulty, Michael R. (D-NY)
Meehan, Martin T. (D-MA)
| Michaud, Michael (D-ME)
Miller, Brad (D-NC)
Miller, Candice (R-MI)
Miller, George (D-CA)
Moore, Dennis (D-KS)
Moran, James P. (D-VA)
Musgrave, Marilyn (R-CO)
Nadler, Jerrold (D-NY)
Napolitano, Grace F. (D-CA)
Neal, Richard E. (D-MA)
Nethercutt, George R., Jr. (R-WA)
Oberstar, James (D-MN)
Ose, Doug (R-CA)
Owens, Major (D-NY)
Pallone, Frank, Jr. (D-NJ)
Payne, Donald M. (D-NJ)
Platts, Tom (R-PA)
Price, David E. (D-NC)
Quinn, Jack (R-NY)
Rangel, Charles B. (D-NY)
Rahall, Nick J., II (D-WV)
Reyes, Silvestre (D-TX)
Rogers, Mike (R-MI)
Ruppersberger, Dutch (D-MD)
Rush, Bobby L. (D-IL)
Ryan, Tim (D-OH)
Sanchez, Linda (D-CA)
Sanders, Bernie (I-VT)
Schakowsky, Janice (D-IL)
Schiff, Adam (D-CA)
Sherman, Brad (D-CA)
Simmons, Rob (R-CT)
Slaughter, Louise McIntosh (D-NY)
Smith, Adam (D-WA)
Smith, Lamar (R-TX)
Smith, Nick (R-MI)
Solis, Hilda (D-CA)
Strickland, Ted (D-OH)
Stupak, Bart (D-MI,)
Tauscher, Ellen O. (D-CA)
Tierney, John F. (D-MA)
Udall, Mark (D-CO)
Udall, Tom (D-NM)
Upton, Fred (R-MI)
Van Hollen, Chris (D-MD)
Wamp, Zach (R-TN)
Waxman, Henry (D-CA)
Weiner, Anthony D. (D-NY)
Weldon, Curt (R-PA)
Woolsey, Lynn C. (D-CA)
Wu, David (D-OR)
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