Science 21 May 2010:
Vol. 328. no. 5981, pp. 960 - 961
DOI: 10.1126/science.328.5981.960-c
News of the Week
U.S. Science Policy:
House Blocks Bill to Boost Research Spending
Jeffrey Mervis
Too much sex. Not enough money. That potent combination led the U.S. House of
Representatives last week to reject legislation aimed at boosting research and
education spending at three federal agencies.
The 292-to-126 vote against the America COMPETES Act was fueled by concerns
about the trillion-dollar federal deficit, a sentiment that could threaten the
Administration's plans to double the research budgets of the three agencies
over 10 years. But the lopsided defeat was also the result of a stealth attack
by Republicans against a Democratic priority, using as a tool the National
Science Foundation's handling of employees who trafficked in electronic
pornography at work.
Reauthorization of the 2007 COMPETES Act is a top goal for the year of retiring
Representative Bart Gordon (D–TN), chair of the House Science and Technology
Committee. The version that Gordon brought to the floor last week would have
kept NSF, science programs at the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National
Institute of Standards and Technology on a path for a 10-year budget doubling.
It also added several new programs to foster innovation and bolstered the
fledgling Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy at DOE. Gordon had already
pared almost $10 billion from an earlier version of the bill to accommodate
Republican opponents, and he won bipartisan support within the committee for a
5-year, $82 billion bill.
But Gordon was caught by surprise when ranking member Representative Ralph Hall
(R–TX) instead proposed a 3-year freeze on spending at those agencies. Hall's
amendment included language prohibiting payment of salaries to anyone who has
been disciplined "for viewing, downloading, or exchanging pornography" on a
government computer or at work. Although the amendment doesn't mention NSF,
freshman Representative Lynn Jenkins (R–KS) cited a 2007 investigation by the
NSF inspector general of employees who had engaged in such activity, flagging
it as one of many agencies where the misuse of computers had occurred. Some 121
Democrats voted for the amendment to avoid being tagged as a friend of
pornography before Gordon pulled the bill.
Roughly a dozen people were found to have committed "serious infractions"
involving pornographic material on their computers, says NSF Director Arden
Bement, who estimates that "three or four" remain at the agency. "We nipped
this in the bud," says Bement, citing "aggressive steps" by the agency to
clarify its policies and impose tighter filters. "But the law is kinda murky in
this area," he adds. Some of the cases "involved addiction, in which the people
received counseling," he notes, and several went to arbitration. He called
pornography "a pernicious problem at many agencies" that requires "clear
guidance from Congress."
At presstime, Gordon was hoping to get a second shot this week at passing the
bill. But given the pressure to curb spending, the U.S. research community will
need to work hard to persuade Congress that an increased investment is
essential for the country's economic prosperity. And as an authorization bill,
COMPETES at most offers guidelines for spending panels. "I hope that it's not
an omen for what may happen with appropriations," says Samuel Rankin of the
Coalition for National Science Funding.
