[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 915 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 915
To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007,
and 2008 for the Department of Energy Office of Science, to ensure that
the United States is the world leader in key scientific fields by
restoring a healthy balance of science funding, to ensure maximum use
of the national user facilities, and to secure the Nation's supply of
scientists for the 21st century, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 11, 2003
Mr. Alexander (for himself, Mr. Levin, Mr. Warner, and Mr. Bingaman)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007,
and 2008 for the Department of Energy Office of Science, to ensure that
the United States is the world leader in key scientific fields by
restoring a healthy balance of science funding, to ensure maximum use
of the national user facilities, and to secure the Nation's supply of
scientists for the 21st century, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Energy and Science Research
Investment Act of 2003''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the Office of Science of the Department of Energy is
the largest Federal sponsor of civilian research in the
physical sciences and plays a major role in supporting
interdisciplinary research that contributes to other scientific
fields, including the life sciences, mathematics, computer
science, engineering, and the environmental sciences;
(2)(A) Department of Energy laboratories have scientific
capabilities that are unmatched in typical academic or
industrial institutions;
(B) scientific teams of the laboratories are capable of
developing integrated approaches to grand scientific challenges
that are often beyond the reach of individual experimenters;
and
(C) the Human Genome Project exemplifies that capability;
(3) the facilities at the Department of Energy laboratories
are invaluable to scientists across disciplines, including
those from academia, industry, and government;
(4)(A) for more than half a century, science research has
had an extraordinary impact on the economy, national security,
medicine, energy, life sciences, and the environment; and
(B) in the economic arena, studies show that about half of
all United States post-World War II economic growth is a direct
result of technological innovation stemming from scientific
research;
(5) the Office of Science programs, in constant dollars,
have been flat funded for more than a decade, placing the
scientific leadership of the United States in jeopardy and
limiting the generation of ideas that will enhance the security
of the United States and drive future economic growth;
(6)(A) because the cost of conducting research increases at
a faster rate than the Consumer Price Index, flat funding for
the Office of Science has led to a decline in the number of
grants awarded, students trained, and scientists supported; and
(B) flat and erratic funding has also led to an underuse of
the facilities that the United States has invested hundreds of
millions of dollars to construct; and
(7) higher funding levels for the Office of Science will
provide more opportunities to support graduate students in
research at universities in the fields of mathematics,
engineering, and the physical sciences, helping to alleviate an
increasing over-reliance on foreign talent in these fields.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR SCIENCE PROGRAMS.
(a) Program Direction.--The Secretary of Energy, acting through the
Office of Science, shall--
(1) conduct a comprehensive program of fundamental
research, including research on chemical sciences, physics,
materials sciences, biological and environmental sciences,
geosciences, engineering sciences, plasma sciences,
mathematics, and advanced scientific computing;
(2) maintain, upgrade, and expand the scientific user
facilities maintained by the Office of Science and ensure that
the facilities are an integral part of the departmental mission
for exploring the frontiers of fundamental science;
(3) maintain a leading-edge research capability in the
energy-related aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology,
advanced scientific computing and genome research;
(4) ensure that the fundamental science programs of the
Department of Energy, as appropriate, help inform the applied
research and development programs of the Department; and
(5) ensure that Department of Energy research programs
support sufficient numbers of graduate students to maintain the
pipeline of scientists and engineers that is critical for the
future vitality of Federal laboratories and overall United
States science leadership.
(b) Authorities of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section--
(1) for fiscal year 2004, $3,785,000,000;
(2) for fiscal year 2005, $4,153,000,000;
(3) for fiscal year 2006, $4,586,000,000;
(4) for fiscal year 2007, $5,000,000,000; and
(5) for fiscal year 2008, $5,400,000,000.
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