Katrina is projected by some to cost the United States $200 billion. That’s basically the pricetag, as it stands now, of the war in Iraq. The irony here has not been overlooked, and the contradictions in a war to prevent terrorism being matched by a disaster we saw coming have not been missed. But there is another cost to Katrina, and that cost comes at a much higher price.
When Congress went on recess over one month ago, Katrina was just an article in National Geographic. Before departing for break, they left on their desks and in their conference rooms the unfinished business of the U.S. budget. Congress is the gatekeeper to the purse, and in that role they have proven somewhat disappointing in recent years. By this I mean the following: unable to actually meet their responsibility to pass a Federal budget by the next fiscal year in the past two years, Congress has either rolled the separate budget legislation into a giant “omnibus” bill and/or voted for a “continuing resolution”, meaning the government will be funded at the previous fiscal year’s level until a budget is passed for the current fiscal year.
The U.S. fiscal year begins in October, which means that the Congress has about three weeks to pass 80% of its budget legislation. Amongst these unpassed bills are those which fund basic science in the United States: the energy and water appropriations bill (Department of Energy Office of Science), the commerce, science, etc. bill (National Science Foundation), and the defense bill (military R&D, which funds a great deal of materials science). These are hefty pieces of legislation, all currently stuck at different stages of the negotiation and approval process.
Congress has been back in session since just after Labor Day. When they returned, they did so to what is possibly the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. We all know that the federal government needed to play a more proactive role in alleviating the suffering of the Southeast, and we all know that each of us as citizens has a part to play in rebuilding the lives of millions of Americans. We know the cost (or at least, we project the cost): $200 billion dollars.
But the cost, and the price, will likely be very different things. Some of my friends have suggested that this cost is best absorbed into the already large national debt. Some are worried that the cost will be paid immediately by gouging appropriations legislation for defense, science, and education. Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. FUD. America faces a potential disaster so much greater than the cost of one storm. If the Congress were to suddenly go super-stingy – for instance, by taking the current funding levels, the Senate proposed levels, and the House proposed levels, and picking the **lowest** out of these three for each program – this nation could be set back for decades in its ability to innovate.
This is a difficult crisis. Money must fuel the response. But let us not forget that when the disaster is passed, and the rebuilding is complete, our children must have a globally competative education, they must have the chance to pursue intellectual careers that aim to solve hard problems, and they must through these opportunities be able to bring innovation and solutions to improve the lives of Americans. Slashing the budgets for education and science to pay for the immediate needs of Katrina would only prove there is a blind spot in the federal government’s otherwise patient, long gaze.
