Republicans Propose Budget Cuts

A plan proposed by the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee last week would cut nearly $75 billion from President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2011 request. A partial list of programs whose budgets could be trimmed—including several science agencies—was released by committee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) as a start to what will be a contentious debate over passing the federal budget for the fiscal year that started on Oct. 1, 2010. Among key science agencies targeted are the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the National Science Foundation. The proposed cuts for these agencies are $1.0 billion from NIH’s $32.2 billion request, $1.1 billion from DOE’s $5.1 billion Science Office request, and $139 million from NSF’s $7.4 billion request. Although the House may have the votes to pass such cuts, it is unlikely they can clear the Senate. Congress will have to finalize the 2011 fiscal budget soon, however, as the current stopgap federal funding measure expires on March 4. If the budget isn’t approved by that date, Congress will have to pass another stopgap measure to keep the government operating.