News from WRD's Program Office, NO.7

To: "A  - Division Chief and Staff"<distribution@usgs.gov>,
        "B  - Branch Chiefs and Offices"<distribution@usgs.gov>,
        "DC - All District Chiefs"<distribution@usgs.gov>
cc: "Wendy E Norton, Program Analyst, Reston, VA" <wenorton@usgs.gov>,
        "Joanne C Taylor, Secretary (Typing), Reston, VA" <jctaylor@usgs.gov>,
        "Janet N Arneson, Secretary (Typing), Reston, VA" <jarneson@usgs.gov>,
        jmcneal@usgs.gov, tsaunder@usgs.gov
Subject: News from WRD's Program Office, NO.7
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 09:21:03 -0400
From: "James G Peters, Acting Program Officer, Reston, VA" <jgpeters@usgs.gov>


Dateline 10/20/95

This has been another quiet week in Washington with respect to
Interior's Appropriation bill.  The Conference Committee has not met
since the full House rejected the Committee's original version of the
bill.  And no meetings are currently scheduled.  This is not
surprising and indicative of any problems.  Congress is generally
behind on all appropriation bills and on the Reconciliation bill as
well.

Yesterday's Washington Post mentioned that the FY96 budget process
could go well beyond Thanksgiving.  If so, we can expect more
Continuing Resolutions (CR's) and a temporary raising of the debt
ceiling.  Some in Congress are suggesting that, faced with the
difficulty of working out budget issues in Congress and in the
Administration, CR's might continue throughout the entire year with
increasingly reduced levels of spending.  The only advice we can offer
in this uncertain environment is to spend conservatively and avoid any
unnecessarily large expenditures.  Future CR's are likely to contain
larger constraints on spending, so large expenditures in the beginning
of the fiscal year would make it increasingly difficult to meet lower
spending levels later in the year.

The processes of bringing Bureau of Mines (BOM) and National
Biological Service (NBS) into the Survey are proceeding at different
rates.  The incorporation of NBS has slowed down, because, with no
appropriation bill, we have no authority to officially proceed with
NBS's downsizing, moving, etc.  As for BOM, the current CR provides
authority to proceed with abolishment and BOM is moving in that
direction.  Survey management and BOM management are currently working
on how many BOM employees should come to the Survey for the amount of
funds provided.  The two BOM units involved are a minerals information
group in downtown Washington and a financial office in Denver that
provides support to Bureau of Indian Affairs.  

One final note.  Last week I sent out an E-mail message about the FY97
and FY98 budget processes.  The message requested comments and ideas
for FY98 programs.  If you plan to submit an idea for a new FY98
program, please use the following format to present your information.
By using a common format, we can compile and compare ideas more
easily.  A one-pager is fine.  Thanks.

 Following a brief introductory description, provide information on:
  o Why this?    o How?
  o Why now?     o Who cares?
  o Why USGS?    o What products?
  

That's it for now. Have a good weekend!