The Democrat-majority US Senate on Friday put forward a compromise budget that includes less severe cuts for science agencies than those passed by the Republican-majority House of Representatives on February 19. The bill, which can be considered a best-case scenario for US science, is expected to be voted on this week and would have to pass the House before becoming law.
The numbers proposed by the Senate for science agencies would involve modest decreases in funding compared to fiscal year 2010 levels. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation would receive an $86 million (0.3%) and $73 million (1.1%) cut respectively, which compares to heftier cuts of $1629 million and $360 million (both 5%) in the House bill.
Other numbers include:
-$398 million (-3.9% ) for the Environmental Protection Agency as compared to -$2859.4 million (-29%) for the House bill
an increase of $173 million or 2.7% for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as compared with a – $1397.4 million (-22%) cut in the House bill
-$162 million (3.3%) for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, compared with – $893.2 million (-18%) in the House bill
-$108 million (-12.5%) for the National Institute of Standards and Technology as compared with – $159.5 million (-18%) in the House bill
– $224 million (-1%) for NASA as compared with $303 million (-2%) in the House bill.
Democrats in the Senate said their bill would cut $51 billion from the president’s fiscal year 2011 request while the House bill would cut twice as much. The gap between the two suggests considerable horse-trading is still to come before an agreement is reached.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (Democrat, Hawaii, pictured) introduced the Senate bill by saying it was the responsible approach to cutting the federal deficit. “In contrast to the House bill, the Senate proposal will allow the government to continue operating at reduced levels without major disruptions that would set back our economic recovery and eliminate countless American jobs,” he said.