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March 09, 2004

Science Committee Democrats Release Their Views And Estimates Report

Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN), Ranking Democrat on the House Science Committee, today released Democratic Views and Estimates (V&E) on the President’s FY 2005 budget request for R&D.  The Budget Act requires House Committees to submit these reports to the House Budget Committee prior to adoption of the annual budget resolution.  Last week, Science Committee Chairman Boehlert released a set of V&E that were signed by 18 of the Committee’s 24 Republicans and by 7 of the Committee’s 19 Democrats.  The Democratic V&E released today were signed by all but one of the Committee’s Democrats.

The Democratic V&E make three major recommendations.

  1. Increase civilian R&D spending in function 250 and function 270 by at least five percent in the FY 2005 budget.
  2. Until the Congress has better information on which to judge the long-term cost of the President’s Moon/Mars initiative, NASA’s FY 2005 funding request should be reallocated in a manner that strengthens NASA’s existing programs, helps address the backlog of deferred maintenance at NASA’s facilities, ensures that the Shuttle will continue to fly safely for as long as it is needed, ensures that the International Space Station will be a safe and productive facility, makes a start on a replacement means of getting U.S. astronauts into space, and enables the analyses that will be needed to develop a viable and sustainable exploration agenda.
  3. Programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction that enhance the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing and promote innovation should be fully funded.  These programs include the Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP) and the Advanced Technology Partnership (ATP) in the Department of Commerce, as well as cooperative government-industry-university programs funded through other civilian agencies, including NASA, NIST, and the Department of Energy.

The Democratic V&E also cite seven problems with the Administration’s FY 2005 budget submission for R&D:

  1. The request for science funding is flat.
  2. The President’s analysis uses highly selective or inaccurate numbers.
  3. Tricky accounting is used to inflate miniscule increases in agency budgets.
  4. The budget does not deal with the challenge of job creation.
  5. The President takes credit for Congressional actions from prior years.
  6. The Administration treats Congressional earmarks hypocritically.
  7. The Administration hasn’t followed through on their commitments to R&D.

Read the complete report >>