Zoe Lofgren: “my amendment corrects two provisions in the bill that will impede the internal operation of the National Science…”

“my amendment corrects two provisions in the bill that will impede the internal operation of the National Science Foundation. First of all, the amendment restores funding for NSF salaries and administrative expenses to the President's request level in order to avoid ill-considered staff reductions. Second, it removes provisions which together eliminate funding for one of NSF's directorates and which would trigger perhaps inadvertently a reorganization of NSF's administrative structure. NSF is not a bloated bureaucracy. Between fiscal years 1983 and 1993, NSF's full-time staff positions remained constant while its budget nearly tripled and the workload measured by numbers of proposals processed more than doubled. In the current fiscal year, the cost of operating NSF is 4 percent of the total budget, which is a modest and reasonable level of administrative overhead. Due to the dedication of its workers and investments in infrastructure, NSF has improved its efficiency, resulting in increased productivity. H.R. 3322 proposes to cut the budget for salaries and administrative expenses by more than $7 million below the current fiscal year budget and 9 million below the request. NSF has determined that after taking into account fixed costs for rent and utilities, such a cut would translate into a reduction of 120 people, assuming the average compensation level across the agency.”