On Friday, the 106th Congress wrapped its remaining
appropriations bills into a consolidated package, sent it to
President Clinton, and adjourned. This final appropriations
package incorporates the FY 2001 Labor-HHS-Education, Commerce-
Justice-State, Treasury-Postal, and Legislative Branch
appropriations legislation.
This package of several bills provides FY 2001 funding for the
Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) and the Department of Education’s Eisenhower
professional development state grants program for teachers, as
well as many other federal departments and agencies that until
now have been funded under short-term continuing resolutions,
generally at their FY 2000 budget levels. The final package also
includes a pro rata rescission, or across-the-board cut, of 0.22
percent to all appropriations – including those already enacted
into law – except those in the Labor-HHS-Education bill and some
military personnel and construction funding. This means that
final FY 2001 funding for NSF, NASA, DOE, and DOD S&T programs as
previously reported by FYI will be cut by 0.22 percent.
Even with this reduction, R&D across the federal budget increased
substantially over FY 2000 levels and over the Clinton
Administration’s request, topping $90.0 billion for the first
time. Budgets for NSF, NASA, DOE’s Office of Science, and DOD
S&T all increased over last year. As reported below, NIST
funding would decrease, in part due to a planned reduction in
construction funding.
EISENHOWER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: This Department of
Education program, funded within the Labor-HHS-Education bill, is
not affected by the 0.22 percent reduction. The Eisenhower
program, which provides federal funding for teacher professional
development, will be funded at $485.0 million for FY 2001. This
is a $150.0 million, or 44.8%, increase over FY 2000 funding of
$335.0 million. It is not directly comparable to the
Administration’s request, which rolled the Eisenhower program
into a larger “Teaching to High Standards” initiative. Last
year, $250.0 million of the Eisenhower funding was set aside for
professional development in science and math. With such a
substantial increase for FY 2001, there is a good chance that the
science and math set-aside will also increase.
NIST: It is not quite clear yet what the final numbers are for
NIST. The consolidated appropriations package apparently enacts
a previously vetoed conference report, H. Report 106-1005, for
Commerce-Justice-State funding, but some additions and changes
are made within other bill language that is not available yet.
Assuming the previous report language for NIST remains valid, and
BEFORE APPLYING THE 0.22 PERCENT CUT, the FY 2001 funding levels
for NIST programs would be as follows:
Total NIST funding: $598.3 million; Scientific and Technical
Research and Services: $312.6 million; Manufacturing Extension
Partnership: $105.1 million; Advanced Technology Program: $145.7
million; Construction of Research Facilities: $34.9 million.
After taking an across-the-board reduction of 0.22 percent, the
funding levels would be:
NIST TOTAL: $597.0 million (6.3% less than FY 2000; 16.3% less
than requested)
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND SERVICES: $311.9 million
(10.2% over FY 2000; 7.6% less than requested)
MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP: $104.9 million (0.1% over FY
2000; 8.1% less than requested)
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM: $145.4 million (2.0% over FY 2000;
17.2% less than requested)
CONSTRUCTION: $34.8 million (reduced 67.4% from FY 2000 because
construction of the Advanced Measurement Laboratory is now fully
funded; 3.1% less than requested)
Within the NIST budget, Congress provides no funding for the
Institute for Information Infrastructure, for which the
Administration requested $50.0 million.
President Clinton is expected to sign these final FY 2001
appropriations bills into law either today or tomorrow.
CORRECTION TO FYI #145: The students participating in the 1995
and 1999 TIMSS studies were drawn from nationally representative
samples. The eighth-graders tested in 1999 were not the same
students as those who had taken the initial TIMSS test four years
earlier as fourth-graders. However, the 1999 sample was designed
to represent the same pool of students which had furnished the
original fourth-grade test-takers, permitting a comparison of
results and an analysis of change.
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Audrey T. Leath
Public Information Division
The American Institute of Physics
fyi@aip.org
(301) 209-3094
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