OBFS Policy Training Workshop

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OBFS Policy Training Workshop

• Understanding the Federal
• Budget Process

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Coin of the Realm Money Matters
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Quick Quiz

• Give an example of a mandatory part of the
  federal budget
• (Mandatory means that funding is set aside by
  permanent law and gets spent automatically)

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Answer

• Social Security
• Medicare
• Medicaid
• Interest on National Debt
• .constitute all mandatory programs.
• Mandatory programs make up 2/3 of the entire
  federal budget.

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So, what does that leave?

• Discretionary programs make up the remaining
  1/3 of the total federal budget.
• These include
• National Defense
• National Parks
• All Government Salaries
• Nearly all of the 100 billion-plus federal
  research and development programs (insert your
  favorite agency here)

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The Budget Process

• Every year, Congress and the President must
  agree on funding levels for discretionary
  programs.
• Three major components
• Budget
• Authorizations
• Appropriations

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Presidents Budget Proposal

• Developed during Summer, Fall
• Largely a secret process overseen by Office of
  Management Budget
• Initial agency proposals go to OMB for review in
  early Fall
• OMB passes back proposals, usually with
  modifications (November)
• Agency can make final appeal if unhappy
  (December)

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Presidents Budget Proposal

• OMB assembles final package (January)
• President unveils budget on first Monday in
  February
• Surprise.Presidents budget is frequently
  political..and
• ..rosy assumptions often used to make proposal
  more attractive

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Enter the Congress

• RD programs are considered at two main levels in
  Congress
• Authorizing committees
• (e.g. House Science Committee)
• Appropriations committees

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Authorizing Committees

• DO
• review the substance of programs they oversee
• provide guidance to appropriators
• DONT
• have actual spending authority

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Appropriations Committee

• The House and Senate Appropriations Committees
  decide how to spend all discretionary money
• 13 subcommittees, each responsible for a bill
  that controls one portion of the budget

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13 Appropriations Subcommittees

• Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA
• District of Columbia
• Foreign Operations
• Labor/HHS/Education
• Military Construction
• Transportation
• VA/HUD/Independent Agencies
• Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary
• Energy Water Development
• Interior
• Legislative Branch
• National Security
• Treasury, Postal Service, General Government

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Appropriations

• Subcommittee Chairs wield enormous power
• Hearings occur in Spring
• Subcommittees draft and approve their respective
  bills
• Full Appropriations committee considers each bill
• Approved bill goes for floor vote

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Appropriations

• Floor amendments can be considered
• After passage go to conference committee
• Conferees reconcile differences between House and
  Senate versions
• Both houses must vote to approve
• President signs or vetoes

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Appropriations

• Surprise!
• Fiscal year often ends (October 1) without
  completed appropriations bills
• Enter the continuing resolution to keep
  unfunded programs from shutting down

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Another Possibility

• Omnibus Bill
• Rolls all unfunded bills into one huge bill
• Tougher to veto
• Allows controversial programs to survive

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A little Context

• Homeland Defense
• War in Iraq
• Tax Cuts
• --------------------------
• Record-breaking deficit of 500 billion
• Translation Cuts to science RD (and lots of
  other things too)

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Reality Check

• Funding for biology (non-med) flat
• Physical v. Life Sciences advocacy
• Ecological community relatively inactive

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Where are we now?

• Senate--Defense, Homeland Security, Military
  Construction, and Leg. Branch
• House has dealt with all 13 bills

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FUNDING ECOLOGICAL SCIENCES
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Some Good News

• 180 million for USDAs National Research
  Initiative, up nearly 10 percent
• Funding restored to EPA's Science to Achieve
  Results (STAR) graduate fellowship and research
  grants programs

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Bad News

• Two percent cut to National Science Foundation
  (NSF)
• Will curtail many current research efforts and
  inhibit new program starts
• Especially bad news for ecologists, since is
  1 funding agency

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Professional Society Activities

• Testimony
• Action Alerts

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Professional Society Activities

• Coalition for National Science Funding
• Science Engineering Tech. Working Group

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Professional Society Activities

• Biological Ecological Sciences Coalition