Fiscal Year 2007 Funding

This is the letter to APS members urging them to write to their representatives regarding the House's decision for continuing resolution to the FY 2007 budget. If you are in the US, and especially if you are a US citizen and a registered voter, PLEASE consider seriously writing a letter to your representative and your senator regarding this. I cannot over-emphasize the need for your action, because major important facilities are being considered to be shut down and laying off their employees due to this.

Funding for physics science have suffered for at least the past 6 years. Just when we think we might see the light at the end of the tunnel, we are let down again. There is only so much we can take for being battered like this for so long. Please help us in making those in power realize the harm, both short term and long term, of their inaction to pass a reasonable budget for the sciences for this fiscal year.

Thank you!

Zz.

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From: Judy Franz, Executive Officer of APS

To: APS members

Re: Member Alert: http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=apspa&hotissue=65



I'm writing to ask your help in urging Congress to enact increases for the budgets of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) STRS account in the upcoming Continuing Resolution for FY07. These increases are critical for preserving the health of science and education programming at these three agencies.



Please go to this URL to quickly and easily send an email to your Member of Congress:

http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=apspa&hotissue=65. (See Pointers below.)



Background: Congress did not pass the Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 budget before the start of the fiscal year on October 1. Consequently, the NSF, the DOE Office of Science and NIST are currently operating at the FY06 levels, despite strong bipartisan support for significant increases that had been proposed in the FY07 budget. Before adjourning in December, the 109th Congress passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) that funds the federal government at FY06 levels through Feb 17th. The leadership of both the House and the Senate has already announced their plan to pass a yearlong spending resolution in lieu of the outstanding appropriations bills when the 110th Congress convenes. The spending resolution, if left unchanged, will extend FY06 funding levels for the entirety of FY07.



The year-long extension of the FY06 funding levels could have severe effects on the science and education programs in the US:

* There will be a significant reduction in operations or a complete shutdown at some key national user facilities that academic and industrial researchers from around the country rely on. (See http://www.aps.org/policy/issues/research-funding/doe-analysis.cfm for a more detailed discussion of the DOE situation.)

* Scientific and technical staffing at the national laboratories may suffer reductions in force, since the FY06 funding levels do not account for salary-adjusted inflation.
* University grants will be notably reduced
o At NSF, there will be a 10% reduction in the number of new research grants, a loss of 40 planned Graduate Fellowships and $439 million in missed opportunities for scientific discoveries. (See http://www.aps.org/policy/issues/research-funding/nsf.cfm for a more detailed list of the effects that will be felt by NSF)
o At DOE, university grants could be cut by 10% or more. Due to the significant cut in funding of the Office of Science in FY06, DOE has been operating below FY05 levels. The proposed Continuing Resolution would extend these difficult levels through October 2007.



It is possible that Congress will make some adjustments for select agencies when they pass the yearlong resolution. It is conceivable that funds will be added to the NSF budget. Congress is more likely to allow DOE and the Department of Commerce to reprogram their allocations to fund the DOE Office of Science and NIST at the proposed FY07 levels, since the overall increases in the proposed FY07 budgets over FY06 for those two agencies is very small and it is the reallocation within the agency that is critical for science. If either or both of these actions are to be taken, however, , it is vital that scientist constituents urge their Members of Congress to do so. Communications from constituents are a very effective tool in influencing Members of Congress and are an important source of leverage for the APS Washington Office.



Please take a moment to write your Member of Congress and strongly urge them to include the FY07 funding levels for these three agencies in the yearlong Continuing Resolution, by simply clicking this link: http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=apspa&hotissue=65.



POINTERS:

(1) Individualizing your letter is not essential. (2) If you are a government employee, please do not use government resources to send a communication. (3) Using the above link to send your messages is straightforward and fast; the system can be used with most web browsers, but works best with Windows and a recent version of Internet Explorer or Netscape. (4) Your browser will take you to a page where you will enter your name and address. (5) After entering your address, click the “Edit/Send Email button.” A window with an individual email message to the five offices will appear. Click “Send Emails” to transmit the communication. (6) Electronic submission is preferred. (7) For technical help, write to opa@aps.org.