NEWS: Appropriations updates

November 12, 2007

November 14 update: On November 13, the President signed the DoD appropriations bill (which contains the continuing resolution to December 14) and vetoed the Labor/HHS/Education bill, stating that it exceeded his request for these departments by $10B.

One month into Fiscal Year 2008, none of the 12 appropriations bills that fund the Federal Government has become law. Only three have cleared both Houses and been sent to the President: the bills funding DoD, the Departments of Labor, HHS, and Education, and the bill funding Veterans Affairs, and other military projects including construction. Meanwhile, the Government is operating under a continuing resolution that provides funding, generally at FY 2007 levels, until November 16. A further continuing resolution, effective until December 14, was included in the DoD bill.

Of the remaining nine bills, four have passed both Houses and are being considered by conference committees. For more detail, see Status of Appropriations for FY 2008, on Thomas.

Of particular interest to the optoelectronics community,

• According to the AAAS, the DoD Appropriations Bill includes a 3.2% increase for basic research ("6.1"), but a decrease of 6.3% for applied research ("6.2"). The DARPA budget would fall $299M (9.6%) because of what AAAS calls "congressional frustation over DARPA's inability to spend past budgets."
• The Commerce/Justice/Science (CJS) Appropriations Bills, H.R.3093 and S.1745, passed their respective chambers by votes of 281-142 and 75-19, and are being considered by a conference committee. Both bills include significant increases for research at NSF, NIST, and NASA. The Administration has stated its opposition to both versions, and threatened a veto.
• The House version of the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill, H.R. 2641, passed by a vote of 312-112. The Senate version is awaiting floor action. These bills include significant increases for the DoE Office of Science, and for solid state lighting and solar cells, among other energy technologies. The Administration has stated its objection to the House version, and threatened a veto.

Congressional leadership is considering various strategies for either avoiding vetoes on remaining bills, or being able to override them. Note that it takes 67 votes in the Senate and 290 in the House to override a veto.