Societies urge support for research funding programs in final spending bills

Now that most of the fiscal year (FY) 2020 spending bills have been approved by the House and Senate, Congress must now work out the differences in the two versions of each bill to develop a final compromise bill. Not only will the House and Senate have to work out the final funding levels for specific research programs, the two chambers were working under entirely different topline spending numbers. In many cases, the two versions of the bills are vastly different, meaning that the negotiations to get to the final bill will be a challenge.

ASA, CSSA, and SSSA signed on to a letter in support of the Department of Energy-Office of Science, requesting at least $7 billion for the program in the final FY2020 bill. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA signed on to another letter in support of the National Science Foundation requesting at least $8.6 billion in funding for the upcoming fiscal year. Both letters urged Congress to complete the appropriations work as quickly as possible.