Advocacy Archive

NSF's Behavorial Science Lauded by House

July 14, 1998

Dear Colleague:

Unless an asteroid strikes Washington in the next day or so, the House is scheduled to approve a FY 99 budget for the National Science Foundation (NSF) that would increase the agency's funding by 8 percent or $3.697 billion. This is a very nice boost, even better than the Senate's 6.3 percent that we wrote about in June, and is disappointing only to the extent that it falls short of the President's requested 10 percent increase. NSF will probably end up with just over a 7 percent increase for FY 99 (which begins October 1st), assuming the two sides split the difference for a final figure. Of course, you know what happens when one assumes...

For psychologists, there is especially good news in all this. The House has joined the Senate in recognizing the importance of basic behavioral science. The following excerpt appears in the explanatory report accompanying the House Appropriations Committee's version of NSF's FY 99 budget. This statement, virtually identical to one from the Senate, applauds the pending reorganization of NSF's Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) directorate, stresses the value of basic behavioral research, and encourages NSF to use the most recent Human Capital Initiative (HCI) report on basic research in psychological science in planning future research activities:

Excerpt from the House Report on FY 1999 Appropriations for the National Science Foundation:

"The Committee understands that the Foundation is reorganizing its behavioral and social science research programs to accelerate the impressive advances that are occurring in these areas. The Committee applauds this reorganization as a sign of NSF's expanding commitment to these areas and reiterates its belief that basic research in the behavioral sciences is central in understanding and addressing many national concerns. Also noted is the publication of `Basic Research in Psychological Science,' a human capital initiative report on the achievements in many areas of psychological research such as visual and auditory perception, memory and learning, decision making, social and culture-based behaviors, and human development. The Foundation is encouraged to use this report in establishing behavioral and social science research priorities." (H. Rpt. 610, pp. 101-2)

This language appears through the efforts of retiring Rep. Louis Stokes (D-OH), Ranking Minority Member of the House appropriations subcommittee that handles NSF. Stokes' consistent support has made an enormous difference for behavioral science at NSF. You may remember it was Stokes, along with Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), who provided extra funding for NSF's HCI program a couple of years ago. The House language also reflects issues APS has been raising in our formal testimony on NSF's budget and in our discussions with Congressional offices.

We won't know SBE's final budget for a while yet. But the strong support from both sides of the Hill plus that whopping 16.2 percent increase that NSF proposed for behavioral and social science research at the start of the budget process, are encouraging signs that NSF's behavioral and social science should do very well in FY 99. We'll keep you posted.

Sincerely, Sarah Brookhart (for the sabbatical-ing Alan Kraut)