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USGS Funding Restored by House and Senate Appropriations CommitteesJuly 16, 2003 - The House of Representatives and the Senate are working in a bipartisan effort to restore funding for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which faced cuts under the Administration's FY 2004 budget request. Different versions of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act were approved by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. The House bill (H.R. 2691) would allocate $16.4 million above the agency's FY 2003 budget of $919.3 million, while the Senate bill (S. 1391) would increase the agency's budget by $9.6 million in FY 2004 (Table 1). The bills are still pending consideration by the full House and Senate.
Appropriations for the USGS outlined in both bills were substantially above those in the Administration's FY 2004 budget request, which would have cut the agency's budget by $23.8 million and reduced funding for nearly all programs relative to its FY 2003 budget. According to a report issued by the House Appropriations Committee, "For the third year in a row the Committee has restored a number of high-priority [USGS] research programs that were proposed for reduction or elimination" (H. Rpt. 108-95).
Noting the importance of minerals to the U.S. economy, the House Appropriations Committee allocated $9.1 million to restore mineral research and assessments. The Committee asserted that it "strongly disagrees with the [administration's] proposed reduction in the Survey's mineral resources program . . . mineral commodities are essential to both national security and infrastructure development."
In its report, the House Appropriations Committee highlighted the USGS's role in homeland security, designating the agency's EROS Data Center as ‘National Critical Infrastructure.' The Committee stated, "USGS archived data are critical to Federal, State, and local governments for protecting the homeland, natural disaster assessments, and understanding global climate change."
While both the House and Senate Appropriations bills call for an increase in total funding for the U.S. Geological Survey, budget changes for particular programs are mixed. Both versions of the bill would increase funding relative to FY 2003 for the water division and decrease funding for the mapping division. The geologic division's budget would be increased by the Senate bill while the House bill calls for a small cut. Funding for the biological research division would be increased by the House bill and faces a negligible cut in the Senate version.
An extended version of this article, including a budget table, is available at www.NCSEonline.org/updates. The complete text of the House and Senate appropriations bills and the accompanying reports is available at http://thomas.loc.gov/. NCSE provided testimony to both the House and Senate Appropriations Committee in support of funding for the U.S. Geological Survey. For further information, please contact Dr. Craig Schiffries (E-mail: schiffries@NCSEonline.org).
| Table 1. U.S. Geological Survey Appropriations | | | | | | | (budget authority in millions of dollars) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Budget Authority
| Change from FY 03 Enacted
| | USGS Activity/Subactivity | ($ Millions)
| to FY 04 House Mark
| | FY 20031
| FY 2004
| FY 2004
| FY 2004
| House
| Senate
|
| Enacted
| Request
| House Mark
| Senate Mark
| Percent (%)
| Percent (%)
| | | | | | | | | Mapping, Remote Sensing, & Geog. Investigations | 133.2
| 120.5
| 130.2
| 128.9
| -2.2%
| -3.2%
| | Cooperative Topographic Mapping | 81.1
| 74.1
| 80.8
| 81.9
| -0.4%
| 1.0%
| | Land Remote Sensing | 35.7
| 34.0
| 34.0
| 30.4
| -4.7%
| -14.9%
| | Geographic Analysis and Monitoring | 16.4
| 12.3
| 15.4
| 16.5
| -6.2%
| 1.0%
| | | | | | | | | Geologic Hazards, Resources, and Processes | 233.2
| 221.6
| 231.4
| 236.9
| -0.7%
| 1.6%
| | Geologic Hazard Assessments | 75.0
| 72.8
| 73.8
| 77.4
| -1.6%
| 3.2%
| | Geologic Landscape & Coastal Assessments | 78.7
| 79.4
| 78.8
| 77.5
| 0.2%
| -1.6%
| | Geologic Resource Assessment | 79.5
| 69.4
| 78.8
| 82.0
|
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