FY 03 Appropriations Status Vice Admiral Conrad C

FY 03 Appropriations Status Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr. (Ret. ) Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere November 6, 2002

Status • Bill has been passed in Senate Full Committee but has not yet been to the floor • Bill has not been passed in the House yet, not even at the Sub. Committee level

Status • We are in a Continuing Resolution until Nov. 22 • Congress returns Nov. 12 and will focus on appropriations • There has been some discussion of an Omnibus and other discussion of a year long Continuing Resolution • Bottom line – there is much uncertainty

Status

Funding Levels, Increases and Decreases • $1. 6 M increase for Under Secretary and associated offices • $9. 0 M for CCRI ($18. 0 M request) • $23. 2 M for Homeland Security • $20. 0 M for Ocean Exploration • $10. 0 M for Ocean Health

Funding Levels, Increases and Decreases • $6. 0 M for Air Quality research in NE (nothing for SE) • $7. 2 M for NWS Supercomputer and $2. 8 M for NESDIS CIP in Senate mark and Supplemental • $5. 0 M to establish NEPA office in NMFS • $20. 3 M for Steller Sea Lion efforts ($22. 2 M request) • Sea Grant remained in NOAA at $62. 0 M

Concerns • Funding for pay raise is nearly $22 M below needed 4. 1% increase • IT Security request was unfunded ($4. 0 M request) • Fisheries Finance Program account requested $24. 0 M in loan authority and got $5. 0 M • Bill establishes base funding amounts with reprogramming restrictions for OAR and NMFS

Concerns • $2. 5 M reduction in NWS Aviation Weather • Denied ATBs ($22. 0 M in NWS alone) • $1. 6 M reduction in AHPS • $2. 4 M reduction in WFO maintenance • $0. 5 M PAC reduction in radiosonde replacement • $1. 2 M reduction in weather and climate supercomputer