ALERT re: Congressional Appropriations for IT Research Funding

September 8, 1999

Status Of Congressional Appropriations for IT Research Funding

Congress reconvenes on Wednesday, September 8, and will immediately resume work on the appropriations bills that will set the federal budget for the Fiscal Year 2000, which begins October 1, 1999. It is essential that Members of Congress hear from the computing research community about support for the IT research program. The decisions Congress makes in the coming weeks will depend on what they hear from their constituents. If they do not hear about the importance of the federal investment in information technology research, they will take it as a sign that its funding can be safely cut.

Many of the appropriations bills have already been written and passed by one or both chambers. Here is the status of funding for IT research at the three major agencies participating in the IT² initiative:

	IT Request	House	Senate
NSF	$146 million	$35 million	TBD
DARPA	$70 million	$30 million	$45 million
DOE	$70 million	$0	$0

The Senate has not yet written the appropriations bill that will include funding for the National Science Foundation.

Recommended Action

Please contact both of your Senators and urge them to support appropriations legislation that makes up the IT funding shortfalls in the House version of the bill. A sample letter is provided below. We have also produced a CRA policy brief (.pdf) you can print out and include with your correspondence.

Thanks to all of those who visited their legislators during the Congressional recess, as recommended in the August Alert. If you have recently met or corresponded with your legislators, then make a follow-up phone call instead of writing. Ask to speak to the legislative assistant who handles research and technology. Use the sample letter and/or the policy brief as talking points.

If you are represented by one of the Senators on the list below, it is especially important that you contact him/her, as he/she is a member of the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies appropriations subcommittee, which is responsible for writing the legislation that will determine funding levels for the NSF.

		phone	fax
Alabama	Richard C. Shelby	202-224-5744	202-224-3416
Arizona	Jon Kyl	202-224-4521	202-224-2207
Idaho	Larry Craig	202-224-2752	202-228-1067
Iowa	Tom Harkin	202-224-3254	202-224-9369
Maryland	Barbara Mikulski, Ranking Member	202-224-4654	202-224-8858
Missouri	Christopher S. Bond, Chairman	202-224-5721	202-224-8149
Montana	Conrad Burns	202-224-2644	202-224-8594
New Jersey	Frank Lautenberg	202-224-4744	202-224-9707
Texas	Kay Bailey Hutchison	202-224-5922	202-224-0776
Vermont	Patrick Leahy	202-224-4242
West Virginia	Robert Byrd	202-224-3954	202-228-0002

Sample Letter

[date]

The Honorable [name]
United States Senate
Washington, DC  20510

Dear Senator [last name]:

As a computing researcher at [ie. your title & your institution], I am deeply
concerned about the federal investment in information technology research.
Funding cuts in pending appropriations bills would mean losing critical
opportunities to improve the lives of the American people through the enabling
power of computing and communications technologies.

The National Science Foundation has a particularly crucial role in IT
research. I therefore urge you to support VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies
appropriations legislation that provides full funding for the NSF and its
proposed IT research program.

This program was recommended by the President's Information Technology Advisory
Committee (PITAC), an independent, Congressionally chartered panel of
distinguished leaders in information technology industry and research. The PITAC
found that federal support is dangerously inadequate and made a compelling case
for expanding our investment in long-term, broad-based, precompetitive IT research.
The NSF's proposed FY 2000 budget proposal is central to fulfilling the PITAC's
recommendations.

[add information on how your department will benefit from increased funding and
contribute to the PITAC's objectives.]

Advances in IT impact all Americans, as individuals, citizens, workers, and
consumers. They are transforming most every aspect of our society -- communications,
national security, education, health care, science and engineering, environmental
forecasting and protection, transportation, commerce, manufacturing, banking and
finance, governmental services, and entertainment.

The federal investment in long-term, fundamental IT research underpins these
transformations. It is the fuel that drives the information revolution. Over the
past half-century, federal investments in computing, information, and communications
R&D have yielded spectacular returns, not the least of which are the computing and
digital communications technologies that have coalesced into the Internet.

Again, I urge you help ensure the future of our IT-dependent society and economy
by working toward full funding for fundamental IT research. Please take a moment
to convey to

(if writing to a Republican)
Senator Bond, the Chair of the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies
appropriations subcommittee,
OR
(if writing to a Democrat)
Senator Mikulski, the Ranking Minority Member of the
VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies appropriations subcommittee,

your support of the National Science Foundation's proposed IT research program.
I would appreciate all your efforts in this regard during the final weeks of
the appropriations process. Thanks very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Contact Information

If you don't know who your legislators are, start here.

Letters to Members of Congress should be addressed:

The Honorable [name]	The Honorable [name]
U.S. House of Representatives	United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515	Washington, DC 20510

You can get your legislators' telephone numbers from the blue pages (government section) of your local phone book; from the Capitol switchboard, 202-224-3121; or from the Congressional telephone directory:

House | Senate

Links to your legislators' websites can be found at:

House | Senate (select your state and click Go)

Thanks very much for your interest and support! Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need additional information or have any questions.

Lisa Thompson, Director of Government Affairs
Computing Research Association
1100 17th Street NW, Suite 507
Washington, DC 20036
tel: 202-234-2111 / fax: 202-667-1066
thompson@cra.org
Computing Research Advocacy Network