TMS Public and Governmental Affairs Resource Center

FROM THE FEDERATION OF MATERIALS SOCIETIES: FROM THE FEDERATION OF MATERIALS SOCIETIES: Even as Congress continues to struggle to pass appropriations bills for fiscal year (FY) 2008, the Office of Management and Budget and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy have issued guidelines to agencies preparing proposals for the fiscal year 2009 budget, the final budget from U.S. President George W. Bush's administration. The new fiscal year will begin just before the 2008 elections.

The official "Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies" begins by stating that "The President is committed to the success of the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI). . . . President Bush has successfully begun the doubling path for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology core activities with an aggregate 17 percent increase in the first two years of the Initiative. To continue the doubling, these agencies should propose increases in FY 2009 that meet scheduled, ongoing facilities needs and provide for unique, high-value research opportunities." The memo states that "we will evaluate the three requests together to determine final individual agency allocations." In other words, each agency will not necessarily receive a doubling in its own research budget. Significantly, the memo also states that "real increases (above inflation) in the high-leverage basic research of the Department of Defense should be a significant priority." The administration has consistently refrained from including defense initiatives in the ACI, and this inclusion of the Department of Defense (DOD) with the ACI agencies appears to be limited to the 6.1 Basic Research program.

The memo warns agencies that "careful attention to funding priorities and wise choices are required due to the combination of finite resources, the commitment to the (ACI), and a multitude of new research opportunities. Agencies must evaluate existing programs and, wherever possible, consider them for modification, redirection, reduction, or termination, in keeping with national needs and priorities.” The administration goes on to warn that "new programs have to be justified with rigorous analysis demonstrating their merit, quality, importance, and consistency with national priorities. Agencies may propose new, high-priority activities, but these requests should identify potential offsets by elimination or reductions in less effective or lower priority programs, or programs where Federal involvement is no longer needed or appropriate."

Interagency R&D priorities are emphasized, including:

Homeland Security and National Defense, focusing on defense against the threat of a domestic nuclear event and on biometrics to achieve identification of individuals
Energy and Climate Change, focusing on eliminating scientific and technical barriers that limit the advancement of renewable, zero emission, and alternative energy sources
Advanced Networking and Information Technology
National Nanotechnology Initiative, including research on potential risks to human health and the environment associated with nanotechnology
Understanding Complex Biological Systems
Environment, focusing on climate change
Next-Generation Air Transportation System
Federal Scientific Collections
Science of Science Policy, "for better assessing the impact of R&D investments, defining appropriate metrics for measuring this impact, understanding the effect of the globalization of science and technology, and improving the basis and capacity of Federal science policy decisions to achieve national goals"

The agency proposals based (to whatever extent) on these criteria will be released in the president’s budget package in early February 2008.

The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society's Public and Governmental Affairs news pages are maintained with News Update 1.1

If you have a question or comment about this site, please contact us .