FY 1997 Appropriations Bills Near Completion: Some Fly, Some Crawl to Finish Line
In late July, with 1 week left before its August recess, Congress struggled to move the 13 appropriations bills that fund the federal government. Because it is an election year, Congress faces incredible pressure to complete the bills on time and before the start of the 1997 fiscal year, October 1. Despite their best efforts, the House and Senate appropriations committees are unlikely to complete all 13 bills by this deadline. This is due, in part, to the committees' late start caused by the FY 1996 budget mess, which included two government shutdowns and the inability of the House and Senate Budget committees to complete their FY 1997 budget guidelines on schedule.
The delay in completing the appropriations bills has led to speculation that Congress will pass a continuing resolution (CR) in September that would roll all the unfinished appropriations bills into one large bill. This is bad news for research agencies that were recommended for FY 1997 funding increases in the House or Senate appropriations bills. The CR will probably provide funding for 6 months (until March 1997) at the FY 1996 levels or at the House-approved numbers if they are lower. The following is a discussion of the possible consequences for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense (DoD), and the Federal Aviation Administration.
On July 12, the House of Representatives passed the FY 1997 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill by a vote of 216-209. The bill contains an FY 1997 recommendation of $12.7 billion for NIH--a 6.9% increase from FY 1996. NIH would receive a 6.5% increase for its core programs, plus $90 million to build a new clinical center.
Despite efforts by APA and other advocates in the AIDS community, AIDS research suffered a setback. The House voted against preserving consolidated funding for the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR), thereby stripping OAR's budgetary authority. The bill contains language, however, that permits the director of OAR, jointly with the director of NIH, to transfer up to 3% of AIDS funding between institutes throughout the year.
Harold Varmus, MD, Director of NIH, has been publicly supportive of a strong OAR. OAR's previous planning and budgetary authority encouraged multidisciplinary approaches to AIDS prevention and treatment research activities and supported behavioral and social science research contributions to combating the epidemic.
Although NIH came out on top, some signs indicate that a difficult future awaits health research. An attempt by Rep. William F. Goodling (R-PA) to transfer $291 million from NIH to special education programs was defeated. Although Rep. Goodling's amendment was rejected, more attempts to reduce NIH funding are likely given the growing funding constraints confronting Congress.
The Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee has been unable to agree on funding priorities, and its markup is not scheduled until after Labor Day. A contentious debate among leaders of the Senate Subcommittee may prevent the bill from being marked up at all. If this happens, the agencies funded through the Labor-HHS bill will be rolled into the CR. Even if the Senate is able to move the legislation to the floor for a vote, the President has threatened to veto the bill because it provides what he believes to be inadequate funding for education and training programs.
CR STATUS: A continuing resolution is likely for the FY 1997 Labor-HHS spending bill. Without any recommended funding levels from the Senate, it is unclear what level of funding NIH will receive. A CR could extend current FY 1996 spending levels through the first 6 months or possibly through the entire fiscal year, or it could incorporate spending levels passed by the House in July.
The FY 1997 VA-HUD Appropriations bill, which funds NSF, was passed by the House on June 26 after a series of amendments that changed some of the recommendations from the committee bill. A successful floor amendment offered by Rep. Robert Walker (R-PA), Chair of the House Science Committee, shifted money between two NSF accounts: $9.1 million was removed from Salaries & Expenses (S&E) and added to the Research & Related Activities (R&RA) account. Rep. Walker stated that his goal was to cut down on administrative costs, but his real motive may have been to force NSF to eliminate its Directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE).
Due in part to lobbying by APA and several other organizations, the Senate VA-HUD Subcommittee chose to fund fully NSF's S&E account and increase the agency's overall budget in the bill it marked up July 10. The Senate bill, although less than the President's request for FY 1997, is $50 million more than NSF's current budget. The full Senate Appropriations Committee marked up the VA-HUD bill on July 11, adding $5 million to Education and Human Resources (EHR) for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and informal science education. The R&RA and S&E accounts remained the same. The Senate is expected to take up the FY 1997 VA-HUD bill in September.
The next step in the appropriations process will be a House-Senate conference to reconcile the differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill. It is usually the case that they 'split the difference' when different amounts are recommended. If this happens in NSF's S&E account, NSF could still suffer a significant decrease in staffing levels. APA will continue to push for the Senate numbers in the conference report, which will probably be completed in September.
CR Status: The FY 1997 VA-HUD appropriations bill has a chance of being completed and sent to the President on time. Even if vetoed by President Clinton (which he threatened to do), necessitating inclusion in the CR, NSF would probably be funded at the level recommended in the conference report. This would provide a small increase for FY 1997.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense completed work on the FY 1997 Defense funding bill. The House approved the bill in June and the Senate in July. The basic (6.1) and exploratory development (6.2) budgets received increases for FY 1997; however, the overall decline in DoD research funding continued. The President has threatened to veto the FY 1997 Defense appropriations bill, because Congress has added several billion dollars more than what he requested--not to 6.1 and 6.2 research, however. This is part of an ideological battle over the proper level of defense funding versus domestic spending.
CR Status: The FY 1997 Defense appropriations bill has a good chance of being completed and sent to the President on time. There will be considerable pressure for him to sign it.
The House Appropriations Committee marked up the FY 1997 Transportation bill, which funds the FAA, on June 19, and it was approved by the House June 28. The House continued its support for human factors research with strong report language admonishing the Administration for its low-ball FY 1997 request. The Senate Appropriations Committee also marked up its Transportation bill, which passed in the Senate July 31. As in previous years, the Senate's recommendation for FAA human factors research was lower than the House's--matching what the Administration had requested. If the Senate numbers are adopted in conference, FAA human factors research would receive an 8% decrease for FY 1997.
CR Status: Figures in the House and Senate Transportation bills are very close. Differences in the two bills will probably be resolved in conference in mid-September. There is a good chance that the final bill will be sent to the President and signed before the October 1 deadline.