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Duke Officials Optimistic Research Funding Will Rise

The research funding picture for Fiscal Year 2001 is encouraging, although members of Congress are not yet supplying the overall levels requested by the White House.

Key members of Congress, with the encouragement and support of academic leaders such as Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane and Chancellor for Health Affairs Ralph Snyderman, are cautiously optimistic that federal funding of science and engineering research will exceed its present tentative levels by the end of the appropriations process.

President Clinton's proposal to increase the overall funding level for the coming Fiscal Year 2001 (beginning Oct. 1) proposes $38.6 billion for basic/applied research, an increase of 5.7 percent over the $36.5 billion for 2000.

John F. Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations, notes that "while Duke and other research universities would naturally wish for an even larger increase, the administration budget proposal is understandably being applauded as a reasonable step forward by such groups as the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association of American Universities.

"It's created an important baseline for subsequent discussions by both Republicans and Democrats in the Congress. We've been encouraged by the bipartisan strong support for science and research from the North Carolina delegation, in particular," Burness added.

The four federal agencies that supply the bulk of the grant funds for Duke's own researchers would fare relatively well under the administration's proposal. Only the Department of Defense's overall research and development funding would not rise from its FY 2000 level (actually down 0.2 percent), due to a requested cut in Defense's applied research budget. The three others n´e National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Energy nuld see increases, with a 17.2 percent hike in funding proposed for NSF.

Responding to the president's budget, Congress is more than halfway through its appropriations activity. Among other actions taken, the Senate has topped the president's request for Defense and NIH. "The Senate increase for NIH would keep the appropriations on track toward doubling the agency's research funding by FY 2003," noted Paul Vick, associate vice president for government relations for the Duke University Health System.

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, has similarly approved a larger increase for Defense than that proposed by the White House, while matching Clinton's increase for NIH. For NSF, the House has offered an increase over FY 2000, although only a quarter the size of the president's proposed increase.

In addition, key House leaders have expressed support for higher appropriations for NIH and NSF, as additional monies become available. And in the Senate, Christopher Bond, R-Mo., and Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., are spearheading a drive to double NSF funding over several years.

Over the last decade, the academic community has taken a lead role in communicating to Congress that research ultimately feeds economic growth. More recently, Keohane and others have advocated balanced funding boosts across the federal science agencies.

Still, politics and priority differences may prevent the House and Senate from funding the president's full agenda. And despite reports that all 13 appropriations bills could see floor votes in both houses of Congress prior to the August congressional recess, such a timetable seems ambitious. At this point, the House has passed 10 of the 13 bills, but the Senate has only approved four, pushing the likely completion into early fall.

Nan Nixon, assistant vice president and Duke's director of federal relations, predicted that "once again the appropriations process is likely to culminate in a negotiated settlement with the White House over whether to spend the surplus on federal programs, use it to provide an election year tax cut, and/or use it to pay down the debt."

But a generally bright economic outlook and larger federal budget surpluses, coupled with the fact that support for science has its own appeal to the public, have analysts optimistic about research funding levels. "If the past is any guide, the administration will insist on a strong investment in its budgetary priorities, including science funding, during settlement negotiations," Nixon said.