Tigers on Capitol Hill: Lobbying Congress during uncertain times

A tight budget, a nation preoccupied with security, and a Republican administration all spell out new challenges in the upcoming year for Princeton's lobbyists in Washington.

The next several months look to be a crucial time for the University to make its case for funding for research, financial aid for students and other areas of interest to the campus community.

The government affairs office works with members of Congress on areas of concern for the University, said Nan Wells, outgoing director.

Three major issues for University lobbyists are funding for student and faculty research, student financial aid and assistance, and tax policy that provides incentives for donation to the University, Wells explained.

When the office was created in 1979 — with Wells as its director — Harvard University was the only Ivy League school that sent lobbyists to Washington.

Robert Durkee '69, vice president public affairs, said, "We thought for a long time that we should have an office in Washington that could be responsive when members of Congress are looking for information."

The University also plays an advisory role in the policymaking process, Durkee said. "We have members of the Hill staff call and say, 'Can you help us find someone to explain this subject?' "

The office coordinates meetings between University faculty and Congress members and staffers so that lawmakers can make informed decisions on a given topic, Durkee said.

The government funds private research with the idea that it will pay off in the longterm, Durkee said. "There's a widely endorsed view that the federal government should be funding research in health, defense, national security, and economic development."

"The federal government decided a very long time ago to fund the best people wherever they may be," he added.

The government affairs office does not request that congressmen earmark money specifically for the University, Wells said. "We don't go to members of Congress and say 'we'd like to have you appropriate this much for Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory or for Professor X,' " she said.

Instead, the office works with the New Jersey delegation in Congress, especially those lawmakers on the committees that appropriate money to various department and agencies of the federal government.

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Wells said that N.J. congressmen Rush Holt and Rodney Frelinghuysen, who serves on the house appropriations committee that oversees funding for the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, are important sponsors of funding that affects research at the University.

Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) sits on the Senate Budget Committee, and the return to the Senate of Frank Lautenberg will be "helpful," Wells said.

"Sen. Lautenberg was on the appropriations committee before. It was my understanding that he will return to that committee," she said of the senator who retired briefly before returning to public service.

With President Bush's plans for more tax cuts and defense spending, the fiscal environment on Capitol Hill will be tense. "A more constrained environment causes the kind of gridlock we've seen over the past year," Wells said.

"Since Sept. 11 there are a whole new set of priorities for the government, and clearly those priorities will need a lot of money," Wells said.

Congress failed to approve a budget for non-defense spending last fall, Wells said.

The budget divides spending between defense and domestic, which means that most funding for research competes against domestic agencies such as the FBI, customs, or national parks.

Under Bush, "defense discretionary spending is up and domestic discretionary spending is down," Wells said.

The budget crunch may be felt most by students applying for federal student aid. The Pell Grant program for student aid faced a $1 billion shortfall last year that could be exacerbated by more people going back to school in a bad economy, Wells said.

Wells added that the federal government's program of graduate student aid lags behind those of other similar wealthy countries, noting that the most talented students often receive full free rides through graduate school.

"America is perhaps best at educating a broad swath of people, but again we have failures in parts of our communities," she said.

Because Princeton's research is primarily in the natural sciences and health sciences, it may feel the squeeze of domestic spending restrictions, Wells said.

Durkee said that Republicans might be conflicted over whether to balance the budget by slowing down spending, or to invest in research that will pay off in the long run.

Durkee said that the University's high quality of academic research means that it is well protected against the caprices of the federal budget.

"Members of the faculty will compete very successfully. Overall there will be substantial federal support in all of these areas," Durkee said.

Wells said that the threat of terrorism and war in the Middle East could make the fusion energy research at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory more attractive to the government. Holt, who represents Princeton in the House, used to be PPPL's assistant director.

"The work we do in fusion energy is critical to finding new energy sources," Wells explained. "The hope is that scientists at the lab will be able to develop dependable power."

There are over 1,200 research and academic projects active on campus that are funded by outside of the University budget, and almost three-quarters of that money is from the federal government, Wells said.

According to the treasurer's office, "sponsored research" made up 16.2 percent of the University's operating budget — excluding PPPL — in the fiscal year 2001.

Aside from the Department of Energy funding of the PPPL, most of the money for research projects comes from either the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation (NSF). The defense department ranks third, Wells said.

PPPL receives 98 percent of its $72 million annual budget from the federal government's Department of Energy.

Republican control of the White House, the House of Representatives, and now the Senate will probably not affect research funding, Wells said. "Especially in research, there is no partisan difference," she said.

The issue of stem cell research is a rarity in that it splits along party lines, she added.

Holt said that he felt investment must not be neglected. "As a nation we still under-invest in research in almost every category," he said. "Our future productivity growth and future quality of life depends on investment in research."

Holt pointed to his efforts, while a member of the House budget committee, that succeeded in increasing the budget of the NSF by hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Republican dominance in Washington could also affect the way that politicians go about soliciting advice from experts and academics.

"There are some matters on which politicians feel they are experts, but on technical subjects they want the best advice available to them," said politics professor Robert George.

Biotechnology is one area where politicians feel they need advice, George said.

He serves on a bioethics council created by the President Bush. He also serves in some capacity as an advisor to the president, but declined to discuss that role for this article.

Asked whether academia's general liberal political bent makes the Bush administration less willing to consult professors, George said that the president is perfectly willing to listen to experts.

"But the pool is certainly smaller because most academics voted for the other side [Gore in the 2000 election]," George said.

George said that the president would be more apt to choose advisors from conservative think tanks than from universities like Princeton. But Bush will choose the best advisors for his administration regardless of their situation.

"They are interested in the individual, not the institution," he said.

George pointed out that the elevation of Senator Bill Frist '74 to the position of majority leader speaks very well of the University.

"He is a great credit to Princeton because of his achievements in medicine and in the Senate," he said.

Holt agreed that Frist's promotion is a boon for the school. "I think Senator Frist has the typical enthusiasm for his alma mater and I wouldn't be surprised if that helps Princeton in a lot of ways," he said.

Wells, the director's first and only director until she retired on Dec. 31, said that the current outlook depends a great deal on an unpredictable future, including the threat of terrorism and an Iraqi war.

"We've done a good job representing the research community but we can do better," she said.