Geosciences Congressional Visits Day (Geo-CVD)

Orientation & Communicating with CongressWorkshop Material

29 September 2015

APLU Headquarters1307 New York Avenue N.W.Washington, D.C.

2015 Geosciences Congressional Visits Days

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Schedule

Tuesday, September 29th

12:00 - 4:45 p.m.

12:00 - 12:30 p.m.

12:30 - 1:15 p.m.

1:15 - 2:00 p.m.

2:00 - 2:15 p.m.

2:15 - 3:00 p.m.

3:00 - 3:45 p.m.

3:45 - 4:45 p.m.

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, September 30th

9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

5:30 p.m.

Orientation and Communicating with Congress Workshop (Lunch Provided)Association of Public Land-Grant Universities (APLU)1307 New York Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20005First Floor Conference Room

Welcome and IntroductionsDavid Curtiss, American Association of Petroleum Geologists

Overview of Federal Geoscience FundingKasey White, Geological Society of America

Overview of CongressColleen Newman, American Association of Petroleum Geologists

BREAK

The Message and Ask: Discussion and PracticeElizabeth Duffy, Seismological Society of America

Congressional Panel Q&A

USGS Coalition Reception & Exhibition

Rayburn Foyer

Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515

Congressional Visits

Group Practice

Post Geo-CVD Happy Hour

201 Bar

201 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20002

Cross Streets: 2nd and D NE

2015 Geosciences Congressional Visits Days

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A. Association of Public Land-Grant Universities (APLU) B. Russell Senate Office BuildingC. Dirksen Senate Office Building D. Hart Senate Office BuildingE. Rayburn House Office BuildingF. Longworth House Office Building

G. Cannon House Office BuildingH. 201 BarMetro 1. McPherson Square (Orange/Blue/Silver)Metro 2. Metro Center (Red/Orange/Blue/Silver)Metro 3. Union Station (Red)Metro 4. Capitol South (Orange/Blue/Silver)

Geo-CVD Area Map

In and around Capitol Hill

Metro

If you’re heading to the Senate side of Capitol Hill, Union Station (red line) is the closest metro stop. If you’re on the House side, Capitol South (blue, orange, and silver lines) will be your main metro stop. Capitol South metro station is located on First St. between C & D Sts. SE.

Wifi

Free public Wifi is available in the House Office Buildings.

House Wifi network name: HousePublic House Wifi password: HousePublic

Cafeterias

These are ideal spots to grab a bite to eat between meetings or meet up with other Geo-CVD participants.

Cannon House Office Building: Cannon Carry Out located in the Cannon basement, B-114

Longworth House Office Building: Longworth Cafeteria locat-ed in basement, B-223

Rayburn House Office Building: Rayburn Cafeteria located in the basement, B-357

Hart and Dirksen Senate Office Buildings: Hart Senate Cafe located in the Hart/Dirksen connecting corridor on the ground floor, G-21

Dirksen Senate Office Building: Cafeteria in the basement, B-R7

Russell Senate Office Building: Cups and Co. coffee shop in the basement corridor on the north side, B-65

Metro 1.

Metro 2.

Metro 3.

Metro 4.

C. D.

E. F. G.

B.

A.

H.

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The MessageStrong and sustained federal investments in geoscience will:

- Support resilient communities

- Strengthen our global and economic competitiveness

- Enhance national security

- Sustain a highly skilled workforce

The Ask

Support strong federal investments in geoscience research and education

Supplementary America COMPETES MessageReauthorization of America COMPETES should:

- Support federal investments in NSF-funded basic research

- Recognize the role the NSF Geosciences Directorate plays in funding basic research critical to the economy

- Allow scientists to make decisions about how to prioritize directorate-level research funding

- Ensure robust funding levels for the geosciences in all congressional appropriations bills

Tips for the day of your meeting:

1. Be on time and be prepared to wait. Changes in the legisla-tive calendar and office activity may mean Members and staff must deal with other things.

2. Wear comfortable shoes. Seriously. There will be lots of walk-ing during Geo-CVD!

3. Leave the luggage at the hotel. There is no place to store lug-gage on Capitol Hill, so if you don’t want to haul your luggage around all day, we suggest you leave it at your hotel.

4. Bring business cards. Business cards are currency on Capitol Hill. You will exchange them at every meeting you attend. Also, we highly encourage you to bring a short one-pager or pam-phlet that describes your research to leave behind after your meetings.

5. Explain how science funding affects the Senator’s or Rep-resentative’s state or district with a short anecdote or facts about the district (e.g. How many people work for your company or university? What is the economic impact of that? How does your research affect the residents of that state?)

6. Never be negative about politics. Do not whine or lecture Members of Congress or their staff. Do not imply that R&D fund-ing is or should be an entitlement. This applies not only to meet-ings but also to the halls and cafeterias of congressional office buildings. You never know who is sitting next to you!

7. Be clear. This does not mean “dumb down” your science. It means explaining your research in a way that can be easily un-derstood by others not directly in your field.

8. Be concise. The average length for a typical meeting is 15 minutes. Visits during Geo-CVD are conducted in groups typi-cally containing anywhere from 2 to 6 people. Make sure every-one gets a chance to contribute!

9. Be honest. When asked a question, if you do not know the an-swer, be honest! Always commit to finding out the answer and follow up.

10. Follow up. Send an email after your meeting thanking the Member and the staffer for their time, and offering to serve as a resource in the future. Answer any questions you were unable to answer during the meeting. This is a great way to continue the conversation and build a relationship with an office.

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Definitions abridged from www.Congress.gov and www.TheCapitol.net

Appropriations Bill: A bill that gives legal authority to spend or obligate money from the Treasury. An appropriation bill grants the actual money approved by authorization bills, but not nec-essarily the full amount permissible under the authorization. Much federal spending - about two-thirds of all budget author-ity, notably that for Social Security and interest on the federal debt - does not require annual appropriations; those programs are mandatory.

Authorization: Legislation that establishes or continues the le-gal operation of a federal program or agency, either indefinitely or for a specific period of time, or which sanctions a particular type of obligation or expenditure. An authorization normally is a prerequisite for an appropriation or other kind of budget au-thority.

Briefings: Briefings consist of experts presenting information in a style understandable to a lay audience, organized and hosted by outside groups (not Congress).

Caucus: An informal organization of members of the House or the Senate, or both, that exists to discuss issues of mutual con-cern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideo-logical, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.

Committee/Subcommittee: A panel (or subpanel) with mem-bers from the House or Senate (or both) tasked with conduct-ing hearings, examining and developing legislation, conducting oversight, and/or helping manage chamber business and activi-ties. Committee leadership includes the Chair (from the major-ity party) and Ranking Member or Co-Chair (from the minority party).

Committee Staff: Congressional Committees have separate staff, including Professional Staff, Research Analysts and Coun-sel.

Conference: A formal meeting between the representatives of the House and the Senate to reconcile differences between the two houses on provisions of a bill passed by both chambers.

Congress (i.e., 2-year time-frame): A Congress is the national legislature in office (for approximately two years). The 114th Congress convened on January 6, 2015. The 115th Congress will convene in January 2017.

Continuing resolution (continuing appropriation): An appro-priations act (typically in the form of a joint resolution) that pro-vides stop-gap funds for federal agencies and programs to con-tinue operations when the regular (or annual) appropriations

acts have not been enacted by the beginning of the fiscal year (October 1).

Fiscal Year: The federal government’s annual accounting period, beginning on October 1 and ending on September 30. The fiscal year carries the date of the calendar year in which it ends; for example, FY 2016 begins on October 1, 2015.

Hearings: Committee sessions for taking testimony from wit-nesses. At hearings on legislation, witnesses usually include specialists, government officials and spokespersons for those af-fected by the bill. Hearings may also be part of special investiga-tions. The public and press may attend open hearings.

Omnibus Bill: Legislation that combines the provisions of sev-eral disparate bills into a single measure. Examples include an appropriations omnibus that might contain two or more of the twelve annual appropriations bills.

Personal Staff: Typical Washington, D.C. Member Staff Positions in order of decreasing seniority:

• Chief of Staff• Legislative Director: Advises the Member on all legislative areas and assists in the development of policy positions and legislative initiatives. • Counsel: Advises on legal issues, compliance with chamber rules, the law, and ethics guidelines.• Communications Director• Legislative Aide: Tracks legislation and other devel-opments in an assigned issue areas • Legislative Correspondent: Provides research for letters to/from constituents • Scheduler

Sequestration: A procedure by which mandatory across-the-board spending cuts to discretionary spending go into effect if Congress fails to agree on a deficit-reducing budget before a specified date.

U.S. Code: A consolidation and codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States arranged by subject under 50 titles, electronic code of Federal Regulations is at www.ecfr.gov.

Veto: Disapproval by the president of a bill or joint resolution. When Congress is in session, the president must veto a bill with-in 10 days, excluding Sundays, after he has received it; other-wise, it becomes law without his signature. A vote of two-thirds of both House and Senate is required to override a veto.

Glossary of Congressional Terms

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With Republicans holding a majority in both the House of Repre-sentatives and the Senate, appropriations bills for FY 2016 seemed destined for regular order; wherein both chambers of Congress successfully pass all 12 appropriations bills and send the President a package of bills that collectively fund the government for the next fiscal year.

The President’s FY 2016 budget requested an equal increase in funding for defense and non-defense discretionary funding, in-cluding science-related programs. The President also stated that he would veto any appropriations bills that locked in sequester level funding under the Budget Control Act. The President issued a State-ment of Administration Policy (SAP) on every House appropriations bill brought to the floor; detailing the cost to society of maintaining sequester level funding, outlining what the administration would change in the bill, and issuing a veto threat on each bill.

Senate Democrats promised to stand with the President and fili-buster any bill funded at sequester levels. Democrats’ resolve was tested when the Senate brought to the floor the Defense appro-priations bill, generally the least controversial spending bill. Demo-crats filibustered the bill, signaling that they were prepared to bili-buster and every approriations bill.

In the House of Representatives, by contrast, legislators seemed on track to pass all 12 bills through committee and on the House floor. In July, the House was considering its 7th appropriations when controversial confederate flag amendments halted debate on the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. Fearing that further confederate flag amendments would disrupt other appropriations votes, the House leadership has not allowed any other appropria-tions bills to be considered on the floor.

Very troubling for geoscientists is the House Commerce-Jus-tice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill, which funds NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). This bill includes language that prioritized funding for certain NSF Director-ates over the Geosciences Directorate, including the geosci-ence directorate. NSF would receive flat funding in the Senate CJS bill. Overall, funding for most science programs remained stagnant or saw small cuts.

The House CJS bill also cut NASA’s Earth Sciences division, al-though it increased the agency’s Planetary Science program; the Senate bill did the reverse. Finally, both the House and Senate Interior and Environment Appropriations bills included major cuts in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Congress has 10 scheduled legislative days in September to pass and agree to all appropriations bills to avoid a government shut-down. General consensus is that in late September Congress will pass a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to provide funding for the government through November or early December. This will likely lead to a large negotiation between Democrats, Re-publicans, and the White House concerning both the national debt and all federal spending, as well as unrelated policy and political issues currently being debated in Congress.

Current Status of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Budget Process

Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Budget Information

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Agency FY15 Estimate FY16 House Committee

FY 16 Senate Committee

House Change from FY 15

Senate Change from FY 15

USGS $1,045 $1,045 $1,058 0% 1.3%

EPA $8,140 $7,430 $7,597 -8.8% -6.7%

USDA-AFRI $325 $335 $325 3.1% 0%

USDA-ARS $1,133 $1,122 $1,137 -0.9% 0.4%

Agency FY15 Estimate FY16 House Committee

FY 16 Senate Committee

House Change from FY 15

Senate Change from FY 15

NSF $7,344 $7,400 $7,344 0.7% -0.01%

NSF GEO $1,304 $1,088 $1,304 -16.6% 0%

NASA $18,010 $18,500 $18,289 2.7% 1.5%

NOAA $5,441 $5,238 $5,382 -3.7% -1.1%

DOE-Science $5,071 $5,100 $5,144 0.7% 1.5%

Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations (in millions)

Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations (in millions)

America COMPETES Act: An Overview

The original 2007 America COMPETES Act was based upon rec-ommendations from the National Academies’ 2007 report, Ris-ing Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, which discussed the need to in-vest in STEM education and scientific research and development to ensure America remains competitive globally.

Both the America COMPETES Acts of 2007 and 2010 set goals to double funding for key federal research agencies, including NSF, NIST, and the DOE Office of Science, in seven and eleven years, respectively. These two bills received wide support from the scientific community.

The 2015 House version of the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 1806) includes provisions not in previous versions that have raised concerns with the scientific community, including:

• Specific budget authorization levels for each individual directorate at NSF, transferring scientific decision-making from scientists to policy makers

• Significantly reduced funding levels for two specific directorates—Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) and Geosciences (GEO)

• Lack of doubling of NSF and NIST budgets over seven years

The Senate is now working on their version of the bill in a group led by Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Gary Peters (D-MI). Both are freshman senators from states that rely heavily on the geosciences. The scientific community has been working to es-tablish relationships with the offices and provide input on the legislation during the early stages of the process.

Now is a critical time to provide input not only to the two offices leading the effort, but also to all senators who can request spe-cific language for the bill.

As part of your Senate meetings, use the leave-behinds provid-ed to request that the office support a Senate version of the bill that:

• Supports federal investments in NSF-funded basic research

• Recognizes the role the NSF Geosciences Direc-torate plays in funding basic research critical to the economy

• Allows scientists to make decisions about how to prioritize directorate-level research funding

• Ensures robust funding levels for the geosciences in all congressional appropriations bills

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Participant Information Name Team State Affiliation

Aldrich, Jeffrey CO Colorado MHA Petroleum Consultants

Anderson, William FL/A Florida Florida International University

Appel, Igor DC/MD District of Columbia IMSG at NOAA/NESDIS

Aster, Rick CO Colorado Univ. of Colorado

Billman, Dan PA Pennsylvania Billman Geologic Consultants

Broadbent, Nan No team California Seismological Society of America

Carlson, Sandy CA2 California Univ. of Calironia, Davis

Carroll, Alan OH/WI Wisconsin Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison

Curtiss, David ED Oklahoma American Association of Petroleum Geologists

Deurlington, Annika CA2 California Claremont McKenna College

Doody, Tom DC/MD Maryland Univ. of Maryland

Duckworth, Owen NC North Carolina North Carolina State Univ.

Ellis, Kelsey NC North Carolina American Society of Limnology and Oceanography

Evans, Stephen CA1 Washington PanGEO, Inc.

Furtney, Maria CO Colorado Cornell University

Gentes, Zoe CA2 California GSA/STEPPE

Grumbine, Robert MD Maryland NOAA/NWS

Hagen, Scott FL/LA Louisiana Louisiana State Univ.

Haupt, Ryan WY/ND Wyoming Univ. of Wyoming

Hirsch, Michael CT/MA Massachusetts Boston University

Hobbs, G. Warfield (Skip) CT/MA Connecticut Ammonite Resources

Holland, Jessie VA2 Virginia BP Exploration, Alaska

Kelly, Kevin TX Texas

Leahy, Pat ED Virginia American Geosciences Institute

Ling, Pui Yu MD Maryland Univ. of Maryland

Locatelli, Emma NM Connecticut Yale University

Mackenzie, Pete OH/WI Ohio GSI, GeoStabilization International

Malinconico, MaryAnn Love PA Pennsylvania Lafayette College

Mamula, Ned VA1 Virginia Self employed

McConnell, Vicki ED Colorado Geological Society of America

Mendoza, Manuel CA1 California Student

Minas, Shant CA1 California Applied Earth Sciences

Mishra, Subhashree MD Maryland U.S. Dept of Energy

Mongold, Connie TX Texas

Moore, John NJ/NY New Jersey Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Mora, Claudia NM New Mexico Los Alamos Natural Laboratory

Normile, Carolina PA Pennsylvania Penn State Univ.

Oaks, Sherry CO Colorado CU Boulder

Park Boush, Lisa CT/MA Connecticut Univ. of Connecticut

Passow, Michael NJ/NY New Jersey National Earth Science Teachers Association

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On-Site Staff Contact InformationTeam Name Society Phone Number

CA1 Elizabeth Duffy Seismological Society of America 202-375-3687

CA2 Abby Seadler American Geosciences Institute 602-821-7876

CO Liz Landau American Geophysical Union 925-270-9789

CO/NV Kasey White Geological Society of America 202-669-0466

CT/MA Edie Allison American Association of Petroleum Geologists 202-643-6533

DC/MD Maeve Boland American Geosciences Institute 720-289-7517

ED Elizabeth Duffy Seismological Society of America 202-375-3687

FL/LA Ya’el Seid-Green American Meteorological Society 202-355-9821

MD Alison Evans American Geophysical Union 602-460-2553

NC Julie McClure Soil Science Society of America 240-461-4562

NJ/NY Thalia Patrinos American Meteorological Society 202-355-9812

NM Kasey White Geological Society of America 202-669-0466

OH/WI Lauren Schapker National Ground Water Association 202-888-9151

PA Colleen Newman American Association of Petroleum Geologists 202-288-5337

TX Colleen Newman American Association of Petroleum Geologists 202-288-5337

VA1 Elizabeth Goldbaum Geological Society of America 202-909-5049

VA2 Danielle Woodring American Geosciences Institute 913-709-4498

WY/ND Brittany Webster American Geophysical Union 678-485-4159

Participant Information Continued Name Team State Affiliation

Potter, Henry FL/LA Florida Naval Research Laboratory

Price, Jon CO/NV Nevada Nevada State Geologist Emeritus

Repaasch, Marisa NM New Mexico Univ. of New Mexico

Salerno, Jennifer VA2 Virginia George Mason Univ.

Santi, Paul CO/NV Colorado Colorado School of Mines

Silvis, Brent WY/ND North Dakota Student

Smith, Dena CO Colorado GSA/STEPPE

Stratton, Christa CO/NV Colorado Geological Society of America

Stubbs, Dreadless TX Texas MUD Geochemical

Syms, Harold VA1 Virginia Dept. of the Interior (retired)

Tepp, Gabrielle NJ/NY New York Student

Trevail, Bob PA Pennsylvania Independent

Trossman, David DC/MD District of Columbia NASA GESTAR, Johns Hopkins Univ.

Williams, John CA1 California San Jose State Univ.

Wilson, Carolyn VA2 Virginia American Geoscienes Institute