On 21 December 2010, Congress approved House Resolution (H.R.) 3082, which extended fiscal year 2011 (FY2011) appropriations through 4 March 2011. This temporary spending bill, also referred to as a Continuing Resolution (CR), freezes discretionary appropriations for FY2011 at FY2010 spending levels. If Congress does not pass FY2011 regular appropriations acts before the 4 March expiration, they may extend FY2010 spending levels through another interim CR. The fiscal year runs from 1 October through 30 September.

H.R. 3082 was the fourth CR passed since the start of the current fiscal year. At FY2010 funding levels, this CR provides NSF with $498 million less than the Obama Administration's FY2011 proposed budget released on 1 February 2010. Full funding of the President's proposed budget would have provided NSF's Office of Polar Programs a 17% increase over FY2010 funding levels, including a 4.8% increase in funding for the Division of Arctic Sciences, and $54 million for operations and maintenance of the U.S. Coast Guard polar icebreakers Polar Sea and Healy (See Witness Fall 2010).

The Administration will release its proposed FY2012 budget on 14 February 2011.

For more information on the status of appropriations for FY2011, see the Library of Congress website: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app11.html. For more information about the NSF FY2011 Budget requests, see the Division website: http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget.