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2013 spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) approved this week by a Senate panel includes good news for the agency's science and technology programs. It also tosses a bit of kibble to dog
researchers.
Overall, the $45.2 billion bill (S. 3216) approved on 22 May by the Senate's Committee
on Appropriations would cut DHS's total budget of $46.2 billion by about $1 billion over 2012 levels in the fiscal year that begins 1 October. At the same
time, it would give a $212 million boost to the department's core research programs, boosting their budget to $478 million. That increase reverses deep
cuts that Congress made last year and matches the White House's request made earlier this year. It is also more generous than the $406 million approved
earlier this month by a House of Representatives spending panel.
The Senate included no funds for DHS's proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas, which is expected to cost more than $1
billion. Two government advisory bodies are studying the need, cost, and safety plans for the controversial laboratory, which would carry out research on
dangerous livestock pathogens. In contrast, House appropriators gave NBAF $75 million. The president's budget also withholds any funding.
The Senate committee did encourage DHS to do more research involving one domesticated animal: the bomb-sniffing dog. "The Committee recognizes the critical
benefit canines trained to detect explosives provide to homeland security," it wrote in a report accompanying the spending bill. And it encouraged the agency to
"support research that studies the olfactory system, genetic markers, and behavior traits of detection canines in order to increase the capabilities and
quality of these canines available to the government." It also urged DHS to consider developing "standards, protocols and certifications for the breeding,
training, and deployment of explosives-detection canines." The bill contains no additional funding for such research, however.
Senate lawmakers would also like to see DHS consider a grant program aimed at increasing the amount of extramural research funding going to universities in
states whose scientists typically fare poorly in the competition for federal science dollars. It directs the department to "evaluate" whether a program
modeled on the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) "would be of value to DHS." The National Science Foundation, National
Institutes of Health, NASA, and other agencies already have EPSCoR-type programs serving
roughly two dozen largely rural states. Overall, the bill calls for spending $40 million on university-based research, a figure that matches the White
House's request.
Further action on the House and Senate DHS bills won't come until later this year, and final numbers may not be settled until after the presidential and
congressional elections in November.
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