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Policy

Congress Lurches Ahead

Some science and technology legislation passed in 2007, but funding bills are still wanting

by David J. Hanson
December 24, 2007 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 85, Issue 52

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Credit: patricia marroquin/shutterstock
Credit: patricia marroquin/shutterstock

THE REINS of Congress were taken by the Democrats this year, as they managed to win a slim majority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2006 election. But that majority did not translate into real control of Congress, and the Democrats found themselves having great difficulty moving any legislation that was complex or controversial.

Still, some useful legislation in the science and technology areas passed. One is the America Competes Act, passed last summer, which authorizes R&D spending to double over the next seven years at the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards & Technology, and the Department of Energy's Office of Science.

This law, however, killed a research program administered by NIST, the Advanced Technology Program, which has funded high-risk, precompetitive industrial research since 1993. Many ATP projects were considered successful by groups monitoring the program, including the National Research Council, but some in Congress branded research at companies as "corporate welfare," and the sentiment led to the program's demise.

The pledge of additional research funds depends on Congress adding the money to and passing the 11 appropriations bills to complete the fiscal 2008 budget. As C&EN went to press, only two of the bills have been passed and the rest of the government's spending has been lumped into a large catchall funding bill. This failure to debate and pass appropriations bills is a major sign of how dysfunctional Congress has been and is an open invitation for abuse of the system. Problems like excessive earmarks and last-minute mistakes or changes are common in these omnibus spending bills.

The situation is especially severe this year because most government departments, including the science-funding agencies, struggled through fiscal 2007 with the same amounts of money they had in 2006. Unless at least some of the promised increases are approved, agencies will be severely constrained next year.

The two funding bills that have passed are for the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. While this is good, a provision buried in the defense appropriation sets a 35% limit on the amount of overhead costs that universities can recoup from the government on DOD basic research grants. DOD spends about $1.7 billion on basic research yearly. Universities currently receive up to 67% in reimbursed facility and administrative expenses. How research universities are going to deal with this loss of income is a serious concern.

The yearlong debate over a national energy policy ended with the House and Senate passing different bills, which may lead to a compromise version going to the President. The main hang-up is a provision that takes some tax breaks from oil and gas companies and uses the funds to support alternative energy companies. Republicans fought that change and may be successful in keeping it out of the final bill, which might pass before the end of the year. Provisions approved in the bill include greater fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks and more ethanol production for use with gasoline.

Another new law that promises to have a major impact in the years to come is the Food & Drug Administration Reform Act. This omnibus bill, signed into law in September, makes the widest ranging changes to the agency in 40 years. Among its provisions are new powers for FDA to raise fees for New Drug Application reviews and to require companies to do postmarketing surveys for drug safety, as well as provisions for major improvements in the FDA database on clinical trials of drugs that treat life-threatening diseases.

A CLOSELY watched and hotly debated measure is the Patent Reform Act, legislation that passed the House in September but is stuck (as many bills are) in the Senate. The bill is an attempt to slow the growth in expensive lawsuits over patent infringements and to harmonize the U.S. patent law with the laws of other industrialized countries. But the bill is pitting the computer and software industry, which heavily favors it, against the chemistry and biotechnology industries, which oppose it, claiming that the legislation won't protect their patents and will discourage research.

Several bills of less notoriety are in the works that will impact the chemical enterprise. One would ban all U.S. exports of elemental mercury and require the Energy Department to set up a repository for excess mercury taken from old chlor-alkali plants. This has passed the House and is waiting for action on a companion bill in the Senate. Congress did pass the Pesticide Registration Improvement Renewal Act this year, a law that keeps in place registration fees for pesticide manufacturers. Congress also passed legislation, as it did in 2006, to open up federal support for embryonic stem cell research, but President Bush vetoed it.

Congress deserves a grade of C+ for this year's science effort. While it showed support with the America Competes Act and some ability to respond to public pressure with FDA reform, the bottom line is still crucial. If Congress does not back up its nice words with increased funding in the appropriations bills, much of its goodwill comes to naught.

Views expressed on this page are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACS.

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