[mmaimcal] US funding bills FY09 progress

[Al Wootten]

It appears, according to AIP's FYI, that FY09 funding bills are on
track for passage early in the coming year.

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees approved their
versions of the bill funding NSF (and NASA and NIST)  in June.  The
Senate bill provides an increase of 13.0 percent (see
http://www.aip.org/fyi/2008/069.html.)  That bill included:
"The Committee recommendation includes funding at the requested level 
for the following three ongoing projects: the Advanced Laser Interferometer 
Gravitational Wave Observatory [AdvLIGO]; the Atacama Large 
Millimeter Array [ALMA]; and the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.

House appropriators have just
released their committee report 110-119 detailing their funding
recommendations.  I'm glad to report ALMA's inclusion there also.

"The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) 
appropriation provides funding for the construction and acquisition 
of major research facilities that provide unique capabilities at the 
cutting edge of science and engineering. Operations and maintenance 
costs of the facilities are provided through appropriations made to 
Research and Related Activities (R&RA). For fiscal year 2009, the 
Committee recommendation includes $147,510,000, a decrease of $73,230,000 
from the fiscal year 2008 enacted level and the same level as the budget 
request.

"The appropriation includes funding for the following major projects:

"AdvLigo 	$51,430,000
Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) 	82,250,000
IceCube Neutrino Observatory 	11,330,000

"Several projects for which appropriations have been provided in 
previous years are currently undergoing final design and cost baseline 
reviews. Pending these reviews, the Committee does not recommend funding 
in this Act. This recommendation is made without prejudice to any project. 
However, to continue these projects in fiscal year 2009, pending final 
determination of their cost reviews, funding is provided within the 
R&RA account for concept and development in the following amounts, 
by project:

"National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) 	$26,040,000
Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) 	10,500,000"

See 
http://tinyurl.com/6g78xq

Clear skies, and merriness of the season,
Al