Washington Dispatch

A bimonthly update from the APS Office of Public Affairs

Issue: Science Research Budgets

Since the October Washington Dispatch, there has been little movement on the FY07 appropriations bills, except for Defense and Homeland Security. See the chart below for specifics.  With Democrats having taken control of both Houses of Congress, action on the remaining bills has been deferred. Unless Congress elects to consider the bills in a December session, the federal government will operate under a Continuing Resolution until February 2007.



For details of the FY07 budget process, go to http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/fy07.htm
 
Issue: Panel on Public Affairs Update

At the October 20th meeting of the APS Panel on Public Affairs (POPA) several topics for future action of the committee were discussed.  These topics include: a look at Nuclear Forensics technology and techniques; a study of the viability of the United States Nuclear Workforce; and a look at a CO2 reduction study.  These topics will be examined in detail during the February POPA meeting to determine which issues warrant a POPA study.

POPA is an APS standing committee that is charged with advising the Council and officers of the Society in the formulation of APS positions on public policy issues that have a technical dimension of interest to physicists. POPA also investigates the desirability of APS-sponsored expert studies on physics-related topics of importance to society and helps to organize such studies.

Issue: POPA Electricity Storage & Interim Nuclear Waste Storage Studies

The APS Panel on Public Affairs plans to complete its two current reports by the next meeting in February, and in time for the new, 110th Congress.

Log on to the APS Web site (http://www.aps.org/policy/index.cfm) for more information.