Government shutdown stymies U.S. science agencies

Most of the 13,814 employees of the U.S. Department of Energy will be furloughed, leaving only a few hundred staff at the National Nuclear Security Administration. “Literally a handful of regular DOE staff would remain on the job within the Office of Science and programs for efficiency, renewables, nuclear power, and fossil energy, including ARPA-E, but as contractor entities the labs will be shielded for a time,” Hourihan said. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy is responsible for identifying “out-of-the-box” energy solutions not supported by industry research.

NASA’s shutdown contingency plan ensures support for the International Space Station and its astronauts as well as other satellite missions now underway. No new contracts or grants will be issued by NASA, however, and most pre-launch development work will end.

Most staff at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and the Economic Research Service also will be furloughed, Hourihan reported. The only exceptions will be a few hundred employees in charge of research animals and assets such as critical information technology.

Before fiscal year 2013 ended on 30 September, the White House Office of Management and Budget established an online summary of the contingency plans for most agencies. With Congress unable to agree on how best to appropriate funds for the new fiscal year, most federal science programs and employees lost support as of midnight 1 October. Exceptions included work at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, including much healthcare reform work in support of the Affordable Care Act, which had polarized budget negotiations on Capitol Hill.

“This doesn’t mean all government-funded R&D will cease,” Hourihan noted. “Extramural researchers who do not require immediate intervention or oversight from civil servants, or are not waiting on disbursal of actual funding, may continue their work.” The U.S. debt now stands at 73 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), the Congressional Budget Office has reported, and it could hit 100 percent by 2038. Federal R&D is considered “discretionary spending,” and it has accounted for 11 to 12 percent of that category of expenses since the 1980s, Hourihan explained. Discretionary spending overall has been declining as a share of the overall federal budget, though, and the CBO has said that discretionary spending will drop to 5.3 percent of the GDP by 2023.

Earlier this year, Hourihan reported that spending cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act, also known as sequestration, had reduced R&D spending for fiscal year 2013 to near 0.8 percent of the GDP — the lowest level seen in 40 years. Under a continuation of the budget sequester, he said, federal R&D as a share of GDP will likely drop below 0.8 percent for the first time in a long time.

“For years now, elected officials been targeting discretionary spending,” Hourihan said. “They have not adequately addressed revenues. They have not adequately addressed entitlement spending. The forces that are driving federal spending and deficits have not been addressed.

Once again, the U.S. Government shutdown is an example of Congress attacking discretionary spending, and the most valuable element of discretionary spending — research and development — without addressing the fundamental budget challenges.”