Colleagues,
As you may have read in the news this week, the Administration sent its FY 2020 President’s Budget Request to Congress on Monday. A Department of Energy fact sheet on the budget request is available here. Although the initial submission to Congress was thin on content, a so-called “skinny budget,” more useful and specific information should be available next week. To keep track, you can visit the Department’s budget page here.
Please note this is the first stage in what is usually a months-long and complex budget process. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees will start working on their FY20 budget priorities, holding hearings and drafting, and hopefully passing, their versions of the 12 appropriations bills that fund the government. Ultimately, they will conference to reconcile their proposed bills and send them to the President. The final appropriations are typically very different from those in the initial request.
Meanwhile, whether you do science or enable science at Berkeley Lab, we are all engaged in carrying out the Lab’s critical mission focusing on the nation’s research and technology priorities. I’m proud of the work we do here. Our stakeholders place great trust in us, and our budgets reflect that trust.
Best regards,
Mike Witherell
Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory