From the President’s Office – 6/3/2011

Washington was in full swing this week with the House back in session. There is a lot of activity concerning raising the debt ceiling especially the issue of cutting government spending as a requirement to passing the bill to raise the debt limit. Vice President Biden, representing the Obama Administration, is working with a bipartisan group of Senate Democrats and House Republicans to address cutting four trillion dollars from the federal budget. It is fair to say that everything is on the table with those kinds of numbers being discussed.  While there are fundamental differences on how to reach that goal (increasing revenues versus cutting outlays), failure to do so will put ever-increasing pressure on domestic spending, including science funding.

Ocean Leadership will continue to strongly advocate science as a top priority for the budget given its historic role in creating economic growth. And, we will use the priorities in the National Ocean Policy and the response to the Gulf oil spill as examples of the importance of the ocean to the future well-being of the country. However, this is an uphill battle, as we have been hearing from many quarters on the Hill and the Administration that all aspects of the federal budget will have to be part of this budget cutting exercise.

At the spring Ocean Leadership Members meeting I discussed the unique situation we are facing in this country with respect to science funding (see link for an excerpt). The bottom line is that trying to solve a $14 trillion deficit means we have to think about doing business in a different way than we have for the past 70 years. It also suggests that we, as a community, have to understand that budget increases for specific projects will be few and far between. David Conover, the Director of the NSF Ocean Sciences Division (OCE) wrote a very thoughtful piece last week addressing the fiscal challenges facing science agencies.  In addressing ocean drilling science, he emphasizes NSF’s strong support over the years and that OCE has a high regard for the value of ocean drilling. However, there are other areas of ocean science that also deserve increased support. This presents a very difficult dilemma when, at best, there are no increases in financial support and the ocean sciences are so dependent on significant infrastructure such as ships and expensive laboratory instrumentation.

I suggest that given these unprecedented times, as a community, we have to be realistic about budgets and look for the most efficient and collaborative ways of doing our science. If we work together across disciplines and programs, we will be successful in undertaking more of the science that is so important to all of us.

In recognition of the importance of oceans, coasts, and the Great Lakes to our nation, President Obama designated June 2011 as National Oceans Month and next Wednesday we celebrate World Oceans Day.  Also this week, the National Ocean Council took a significant step forward in implementing the National Ocean Policy by releasing the outlines of the Strategic Action Plans.  Ocean Leadership will continue to be engaged with the Executive Branch on this important initiative by developing comments on these outlines.

I hope you all enjoy the weekend and take time to reflect on the importance of the ocean and ocean research during the celebrations this month.

Bob

Related Posts:

• From the President’s Office – 8/4/2011
• Program Update: Advocacy – July 2011
• From the President’s Office – 7/22/2011
• From the President’s Office – 6/24/2011
• From the President’s Office – 6/17/2011