My first full day of work consisted mainly of one thing: research. This Friday, June 2 the Department of Energy (DOE) and National Science Foundation (NSF) are holding an interagency meeting of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, a federal advisory committee that advises both agencies. My mentor said he will send me to attend the meeting as my first foray into experiencing the format of these committee meetings, and so to prepare I read up on how the "president" budget proposal sent to Congress is created.
I put "president" in quotations since that terminology is quite misleading to a reader trying to visualize the budget creation process. While the president does give a general direction to what they want to see happen with the budget, e.g., less non-defense spending, they typically do not go any more detailed than that. Instead, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) outlines a more specific plan. For those who don't know, OMB is a special office tasked with helping the President of the United States in overseeing the implementation of his vision across the Executive Branch. In other words, OMB gives shape to the ideas the president wishes to express.
After OMB develops a general idea of how cuts and raises will be distributed, they contact the 15 departments that make up the Cabinet to give them parameters for planning their individual budgets. From there, the departments work internally and with OMB to give voice to where the specific cuts and raises will be made within the department to reach the average increase or decrease expected of the department's budget.
To make this clearer, let me give you an example. Consider this graph used in a recent article by FYI:
The budget is not always decided through a purely internal basis within the department and OMB, though. Sometimes an organization or project is funded by several Cabinet departments and government agencies. This is the case for nuclear science, as both DOE and NSF use part of their budget to fund organizations and projects in this area. That is why they must not only discuss internally but also together how they plan to reach the budget goals set for them by OMB.
Key words to look for in a report
My mentor assigned me to look through the fiscal year 2018 budget proposal DOE put together. You know, the small 365-page one. He said he wanted to see what things I noticed in the document, to test if I had an eye for drawing out important topics to mention in a summary of the proposal. I don't think I did so well...
He ended up giving me a list of words that usually warrant attention as a way to more effectively skim and dissect a report in the future.
Words to watch for
- "highest priority"/"prioritization"
- "reduced"/"need"
- "process"
- "forming"/"formation"
- "Department" (see if there are any affiliations/collaborations occurring)
- "funding rate"/"dependent on"
- "CD" (critical decision)
- "congressional [specific] language" (some type of congressional language, like appropriations)
Additionally, it's important to notice if a project is completed since that would explain why it might have been completely defunded.