AAU President Robert Berdahl thanks the President for his leadership and efforts to sustain strong federal investments in scientific research and student aid, particularly in maintaining the Pell Grant maximum award, in the final FY11 spending measure.

 A group of businesses and business associations sent a letter to leaders of the Senate on March 9 urging them to give funding priority in the FY11 continuing resolution to physical science and engineering research and STEM education.

 A group of 170 organizations and institutions, including AAU, urge Senators to reject the cuts to key research agency budgets included in the House-passed version of the FY11 continuing resolution (H.R. 1)

Dear Representatives Obey, Mollohan, Lewis, and Wolf: Thank you for your strong support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) over the years and thus far in the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) budget process. As the FY11 appropriations are finalized, we the undersigned organizations urge you to maintain the $7.4 billion budget level supported by the House CJS Appropriations Subcommittee, the Senate Appropriations Committee and the President. This budget level demonstrates an extraordinary commitment to address America’s competitiveness by doubling the NSF budget over ten years, as authorized in the bipartisan 2007 America COMPETES Act and promoted by the President.

Dear Chairman Obey, Ranking Member Lewis, Chairman Mollohan, and Ranking Member Wolf: The Task Force on American Innovation – a coalition of major corporations, universities, and scientific societies – applauds the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) for the funding it provides in its FY11 bill for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) labs. We urge the full Appropriations Committee to provide allocations that match or exceed the Subcommittee levels for both agencies. We also urge the Committee and the full House to pass the CJS bill quickly so that it can be enacted before the beginning of the new fiscal year, thereby avoiding damaging dislocations in our nation’s research programs.

 Dear Chairman Mollohan and Ranking Member Wolf: We are writing to thank you for your consistent support for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and to urge you to continue that support in the fiscal year 2011 (FY11) appropriations bill. We ask that you uphold the Administration's FY11 funding level request of $7.424 billion for the National Science Foundation.

This increase of $551.8 million, or 8 percent, over FY10 funding will allow NSF to sustain and expand its vital research and education programs. The request supports the bipartisan commitment made by the Administration and Congress to significantly increase funding for basic scientific research over the next several years.