FY2011
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| Fermilab Director Pier Oddone |
We have started the new fiscal year. As is often the case, Congress has not passed the Energy and Water appropriations bill, so we are in a continuing resolution (CR) with spending that is fixed at last year's level and contains no funds for new starts. Because both LBNE and Mu2e were successful last year in obtaining CD-0, they are now considered "new starts" in FY11, and their planned funding will not be available until Congress passes the FY11 Energy and Water appropriation bill. Because the CR was expected, the projects have made provisions to continue in R&D mode for the first part of the year and have the necessary resources to bridge the gap, provided the gap is not too long.
A CR is always uncomfortable; especially in a situation such as the one we have this year, with elections that could significantly change the composition of Congress and the outcome of the appropriations bills. No pundit can predict with certainty when we might have a federal budget. Because none of the appropriations bills passed, the expectation is that at some point, either in a lame-duck session after the election, or after the new Congress is sworn in, appropriations bills will be aggregated into an omnibus bill and passed. Or, as has happened before, Congress could freeze spending at the FY10 level for the remainder of the year.
Is there any good news here? No, but there are several thoughts that might give us comfort. The first has to do with the range of budget numbers we know. The President's proposed budget for high energy physics for FY11 was 2.5 percent higher than in FY10. The Energy and Water subcommittee of the Senate appropriations committee marked up the bill and shaved the proposed increase to 1.5 percent. The corresponding House committee also marked up the bill but has kept the results under wraps. So the numbers we know range from 0 percent for a CR to 2.5 percent for the President's budget--not a huge range. Of course, these numbers don't address the "no new starts" issue, on the assumption that somehow that issue would be fixed.
The second thought is that everyone in the chain of decisions is trying to do the right thing. The individuals in the Office of High Energy Physics, the Office of Science, the top management of DOE, the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the staff of the congressional committees are all trying to do the best for the country and its science enterprise under difficult circumstances. We are in contact with all these folks and keep them informed about the achievements, value and needs of Fermilab. If we end up in a year-long CR, I have no doubt that they will do their best to help remove obstacles and maintain vigorous progress in all our programs.
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Sunny
