[Ecoed] Time sensitve re NSF your action requested

[Jason Taylor]

Dear ecology educator:

Now is the time for constituents who support an increase in the NSF
budget to urge their representative to sign a letter to House
Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) and Ranking Minority
Member Jerry Lewis (R-CA). Time is of the essence: the deadline for
signatures is tomorrow, Friday, January 12.

Yesterday, Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI), House Science and Technology
Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN), and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) sent a
"Dear Colleague" letter to all representatives urging them to sign a
letter to Obey and Lewis supporting President Bush's $6.02 billion
request for the National Science Foundation. The House passed its
version of the FY 2007 Science, State, Justice Commerce Appropriations
Bill that would fully fund this request on June 29 by the overwhelming
vote of 393-23 (16 not voting.) In July, Senate appropriators passed
their version of this bill providing almost the entire request, but the
Senate leadership never scheduled floor time for the consideration of
the bill.

Congress adjourned in late December without taking action on this bill,
providing stopgap, level funding for NSF and other affected agencies
through February 15. In December, Chairman Obey and Senate
Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) announced that they
would support legislation continuing FY 2006 funding, in almost all
instances, through September 30.  Under this arrangement, NSF would lose
between $410 and $439 million (depending on what version of the funding
bill was used.) As described in FYI last year, under the President's
budget request, "The foundation's funding rate would increase from 20%
to 21%, growing from 6,190 grants to a projected 6,760 research grants.
Annual award size would increase; the average duration of research
grants would remain unchanged at 3.0 years.

Another projection shows the total number of people involved in NSF
activities, ranging from K-12 students and teachers to senior
researchers would increase from an estimated 171,080 to 177,485."

The deadline for signatures on the Ehlers/Gordon/Holt letter to Chairman
Obey and Ranking Member Lewis in support of the $6.02 billion NSF
request is tomorrow, Friday, January 12. Members of Congress receive
many "Dear Colleague" letters every day asking for their signature on
letters such as this. Expressions of constituent interest are critical
in getting such a letter acted upon.

The telephone number for the switchboard of the U.S. House of
Representatives is 202-224-3121. The name of your representative is
easily located by using the search box in the header at
http://www.house.gov/ <BLOCKED::BLOCKED::http://www.house.gov/> 

The complete text of this letter follows:

The Honorable David Obey

Chairman

Committee on Appropriations

H-218 Capitol

Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Jerry Lewis

Ranking Member

Committee on Appropriations

H-218 Capitol

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Obey and Ranking Member Lewis:

Thank you very much for your leadership in increasing federal funding
for basic science research. As supporters of scientific research and
education, we respectfully ask that you single out the National Science
Foundation (NSF) as a priority in your fiscal year

2007 Continuing Resolution appropriations legislation. Specifically, we
request that you fund NSF at the House-passed, President's requested
level of $6.02 billion in fiscal year 2007. This is essential, because
the flat funding for this agency under the Continuing Resolution will
directly inhibit our national competitiveness and jeopardize American
innovation.

The NSF is an agency that has suffered budget stagnation in recent years
and even a budget cut in fiscal year 2005. We have not managed to come
close to the doubling path for NSF set out in the 2002 Authorization
Act. This year, however, we were heartened that the budget request for
the NSF included a substantial increase for the "high-leverage fields of
physical sciences and engineering" as part of the proposed American
Competitiveness Initiative (ACI). This boost in funding would allow for
new innovative technologies to be developed by NSF-funded scientists and
engineers. The full House and Senate appropriators supported the
requested increase for NSF in the

FY07 appropriations bills. Our colleagues understood that the increase
represented a significant down-payment toward the goal of enhancing U.S.
global competitiveness by investing in basic science research.

The NSF is the major source of federal funding in many fields such as
the basic sciences, mathematics, computer science and the social
sciences, and it funds approximately 20 percent of all
federally-supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and
universities. If Congress provides only flat funding, peer-reviewed
basic science research will suffer all across the country. NSF-funded
researchers have won more than 170 Nobel Prizes and pioneered
innovations that have improved quality of life of all Americans.
Additionally, NSF consistently earns top scores in all of the
Administration's budgetary performance measures and all grants awarded
undergo a rigorous peer-review process.

Completing the remaining fiscal year 2007 appropriations by way of a
long-term Continuing Resolution presents significant challenges and will
necessitate some difficult choices. We fully appreciate the tight budget
constraints that you are operating under, but a small investment in
science yields immeasurable results. By including the requested level of
funding for the NSF in the Continuing Resolution you would be reflecting
the overwhelmingly bipartisan will of the Congress and making a
significant investment in the future of our nation. We believe NSF is
one of the nation's most important policy concerns and respectfully
request that you fund NSF at the House-passed, President's requested
level of $6.02 billion in fiscal year 2007

Jason Taylor

Director, Education and Diversity Initiatives

Ecological Society of America

1400 Spring St. #330

Silver Spring, MD

301.588.3873 ext. 311

 

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