For the third consecutive year, a delegation of scientists representing the users of the four U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) synchrotron light sources organized a successful lobbying trip to Washington, D.C. on April 7 and 8, 2003.

The visit was organized and coordinated by Leemor Joshua-Tor, the chair of the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) Users' Executive Committee (UEC). The delegation was comprised primarily of the chair and vice-chair of the UECs of the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (CA), the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory (IL), the NSLS, and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory at Stanford University (CA). Accompanying the delegation was Pat Fulton, Science Lobbyist for Stanford University. The NSLS scientists in the delegation were Tony Lanzirotti, UEC vice-chair, and Simon Bare, UEC lobbying coordinator. (Leemor Joshua-Tor was unable to make the trip at the last moment.)

"The goal of these visits is to increase the visibility of the synchrotrons and the Department of Energy's Office of Science who funds them," Joshua-Tor says. "The Office of Science budget has remained essentially flat in recent years, forcing Light Source funding to remain flat as well, although the number of light source users nearly doubled."

"This office is by far the largest funding agency for the physical sciences in the U.S.," Bare says, " but its funding is buried within bills approved by the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House on Energy and Water Development Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee."

DOE's budget for fiscal year 2003 is $21.9 billion, of which only 15% ($3.3 billion) funds the Office of Science, and only one-third of this amount goes to Basic Energy Sciences, which is the primary funding agency for light source operations. "This amount does not reflect the real needs of the scientists working at the light sources," Bare says, "because the number of users keeps growing, but not the funding, so an infusion of operating funds is urgently required."

On the first day of the visit, the delegation met with Patricia Dehmer, Associate Director of Science for the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, which is one of six offices managed by the Office of Science; Joel Parriott, Budget Examiner from the Federal Office of Management and Budget; John Marburger, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and science advisor to President George W. Bush; Kathie Olsen, Associate Director for Science at the OSTP; Michael Holland, Senior Policy Analyst at the OSTP; and Clay Sell and Drew Willison, both Staff members from the Senate Energy & Water Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Marburger, who welcomed the delegation in his office in the morning of the first day, expressed his strong support for the four light sources, stating that he was holding them in high regard and considered them as the most productive user facilities by the scientific research community worldwide.

On the second day of the visit, the delegation met with senior staffers from the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the Energy Subcommittee of House Science Committee, and the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

The highlight of the visit was a meeting between NSLS user, Martin Caffrey, professor of chemistry at Ohio State University in Columbus, and Representative David Hobson (R-OH), the new Chair of the House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. Caffrey was accompanied by Simon Bare. The discussion focused on the wide variety of scientists working at the light sources, most of whom are not employees of the national laboratories housing the light sources, but come from universities, other federal agencies, and industry.

At the end of the second day, Bare and Lanzirotti visited with Sean Sweeney, a staffer in the office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and expressed their interest in increasing funding for the DOE's Office of Science. The two scientists also reported to Sweeney that a proposal has been made to the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) to build a new synchrotron accelerator at Brookhaven Lab, which will provide a brighter beam for greatly improved scientific data and many new scientific discoveries.

The members of the delegation were generally satisfied with their visit. "We came away from our visit feeling positive and with many good suggestions on how to expand our efforts," Lanzirotti says. "We also noticed signs of support for increased funding for the Office of Science. For example, the bill introduced onto the floor of the House (H.R. 6) on April 10 provides for budget increases of approximately 15, 10, 15, and 15 percent over the next four years.