65 



that — and then it starts to go down from there; and it goes down 

 so much that at the very end it falls. The total figures fall below 

 what Congress is recommending at this time. 



Again, we have talked about this privately, so you know what I 

 am going to ask you, I trust. That is, what I would like to know 

 is where does NSF fit into the Administration's budget for the full 

 seven years through the Year 2002, if you know? 



I wonder if you could tell us about that? 



Dr. Lane. Well, Mr. Chairman, we certainly recognize that, in an 

 effort to get hold of the deficit, there is pressure on many budget 

 categories and certainly on the nondefense discretionary budget. 



The outyear numbers that have been published for the National 

 Science Foundation, the bottom-line numbers, over the period that 

 you have mentioned are essentially flat from 1997. 



So the President has made a very good request for us in 1997, 

 as has been remarked on here; and the budget authority in those 

 outyear projects is roughly constant in current dollars through that 

 period. 



It is also the case, though, that the outlays for at least several 

 of those years increase in recognition of earlier budget authority on 

 major construction projects that will be spent out over a number 

 of years. 



So I guess I would conclude by saying two things: 



The outyear numbers that have been provided for NSF do, in 

 fact, show the President's strong commitment for science and for 

 NSF. 



It is also the case that we understand that the outyear numbers 

 are not locked, and that the situation will be re-examined every 

 year. 



We would expect to continue to make the strong case for NSF's 

 budget because we believe that this is an important investment in 

 the nation's future. 



Mr. Schiff. Dr. Lane, I cannot resist telling you, looking at that 

 chart, that there is kind of a Republican joke that goes: "Does Vice- 

 President Al Gore know what President Clinton is proposing for his 

 presidency four years from now?" 



[Laughter.] 



Mr. Schiff. I am not seeing too many chuckles, so maybe it tells 

 me the political division out there, I don't know. 



But I have a couple of follow-up questions. 



My first follow-up question is on the flat NSF budget that you 

 have referred to. In the President's budget submission that we re- 

 ceived a few days ago, the President had total figures printed 

 twice. One is CBO-scored, which is our mutual agreement between 

 the President and Congress; and the President had a separate set 

 of numbers — and I have no idea why that was in the budget since 

 we have all agreed to use the CBO numbers — but the President 

 has a separate set of numbers of total spending, not CBO scored; 

 I assume, OMB scored. 



The chart you see there is using CBO scoring for both the Ad- 

 ministration's proposals and Congress's proposals. 



The question is this. Do you know whether the proposal you have 

 just stated for the outyears for NSF is under CBO scoring, or under 

 OMB scoring? 



