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USGS Funding Restored by Senate Appropriations CommitteeSeptember 15, 2004—The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill this week that would reverse proposed cuts in the U.S. Geological Survey's FY 2005 budget. The bill (S. 2804) would provide $939.5 million for the USGS in FY 2005, restoring $18 million of funding cuts proposed in the President's budget request and adding $1.5 million of new funding.
As in recent years, the Senate Appropriations Committee expressed support for the USGS and provided guidance regarding future budget requests:
The strength of the Survey's existing efforts in many program areas is deserving of additional support. The Committee has little ability to provide that support, however, when it must annually restore large sums for proposed program and project reductions that have been taken with little or no justification. The Committee urges that future budget requests place a stronger emphasis on the Survey's core programs, which have proven value and strong public support (S. Rpt. 108-341).
All four scientific disciplines of the USGS would receive increased funding under the Senate appropriations bill. Relative to the President's budget request, the water resources discipline would increase by 5.1 percent to $212.9 million, the geologic discipline would increase by 3.4 percent to $228.2 million, the biological resources discipline would increase by 3.1 percent to $172.8 million, and the geography discipline would increase by 0.7 percent to $119.8 million (Table 1).
One of the largest differences between the Senate bill and the Administration's budget request for the USGS concerns funding for the Mineral Resources program. The Senate Appropriations Committee report says, "The Committee does not support the proposed reduction of $6,493,000 to the Minerals Resources program and has retained those funds in the program base for fiscal year 2005."
In an annual ritual, the Administration proposed eliminating all funding for the Water Resources Research Institutes and the Senate restored funding to the FY 2004 pre-rescission level of $6.5 million. According to the Senate Appropriations Committee report, "The Committee is dismayed that this program was once again targeted for elimination in the fiscal year 2005 budget justification."
The committee provided the following remarks regarding the crippled Landsat 7 satellite:
The Committee is concerned that it has been over a year since the equipment failure on the Landsat 7 satellite and yet no clear guidance has emerged from the administration as to how USGS should proceed. Leaving the Survey and/or the Department of the Interior to somehow figure out how to absorb the tab for continuing satellite operations, now that the sale of degraded data is insufficient to cover costs, is not a solution to the problem.
Although the USGS budget would increase by $1.5 million under the Senate appropriations bill, the budgets of many programs would decline in real dollars due to the effects of inflation, salary and rent increases, and congressionally mandated projects. This pattern has persisted over many years and the budgets of many research and information programs have eroded over time. Although total federal investments in research have grown by nearly 50 percent in constant dollars over the past eight years, the USGS budget has been nearly stagnant over the same period.
The Senate bill is broadly consistent with the appropriations bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in June. The House bill would restore cuts in the Administration's budget request and increase funding for the USGS budget by $7 million in FY 2005. The USGS budget will not be finalized until the FY 2005 appropriations bill is passed in identical form by both chambers and signed into law by the President. Although the federal fiscal year begins on October 1, Congress may not complete action on the FY 2005 funding measures until after the November elections.
The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) provided testimony in support of increased appropriations for the USGS. NCSE also serves as co-chair of the USGS Coalition, an alliance of 60 organizations united by a commitment to the continued vitality the U.S. Geological Survey.
Table 1. U.S. Geological Survey Appropriations
(budget authority in millions of dollars)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
| USGS Appropriations
|
|
| Change from FY05
|
| ($ millions)
|
|
| Req. to Senate bill
| USGS Activity/Subactivity
| FY 2004
| FY 2005
| FY 2005
| FY 2005
|
| Amount
| Percent
|
| Enacted1
| Request2
| House3
| Senate4
|
| ($mil.)
| (%)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Mapping, Remote Sensing, & Geog. Investigations
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Cooperative Topographic Mapping
| 80.8
| 71.0
| 74.8
| 71.8
|
| 0.8
| 1.1%
| Land Remote Sensing
| 33.7
| 33.1
| 33.2
| 33.2
|
| 0.1
| 0.2%
| Geographic Analysis and Monitoring
| 15.2
| 14.8
| 14.8
| 14.8
|
| 0.1
| 0.5%
| Subtotal
| 129.8
| 118.9
| 122.8
| 119.8
|
| 0.9
| 0.7%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Geologic Hazards, Resources, and Processes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Geologic Hazard Assessments
| 75.3
| 73.0
| 75.0
| 74.2
|
| 1.2
| 1.7%
| Geologic Landscape & Coastal Assessments
| 78.4
| 75.2
| 77.3
| 75.5
|
| 0.3
| 0.4%
| Geologic Resource Assessment
| 80.5
| 72.5
| 78.6
| 78.5
|
| 6.0
| 8.2%
| Subtotal
| 234.2
| 220.8
| 230.9
| 228.2
|
| 7.5
| 3.4%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Water Resources Investigations
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Hydrologic Monitoring, Assessm'ts & Research
| 145.3
| 139.7
| 141.5
| 143.1
|
| 3.4
| 2.4%
| Cooperative Water Program
| 64.0
| 63.0
| 63.3
| 63.4
|
| 0.4
| 0.6%
| Water Resources Research Act Program
| 6.4
| 0.0
| 6.5
| 6.5
|
| 6.5
| 100.0%
| Subtotal
| 215.7
| 202.7
| 211.2
| 212.9
|
| 10.3
| 5.1%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Biological Research
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Biological Research and Monitoring
| 135.1
| 129.2
| 132.6
| 133.8
|
| 4.6
| 3.6%
| Biological Information Management & Delivery
| 24.7
| 24.3
| 24.3
| 24.3
|
| 0.1
| 0.3%
| Cooperative Research Units
| 14.8
| 14.1
| 15.1
| 14.7
|
| 0.6
| 3.9%
| Subtotal
| 174.5
| 167.6
| 172.0
| 172.8
|
| 5.2
| 3.1%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Enterprise Information
|
| 45.1
| 44.1
|
|
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