NOTE: The following message is being sent to all employees from Laboratory Director Praveen Chaudhari. Please share this message with others in your area who do not have access to e-mail. * * * Budget News from Praveen Chaudhari Yesterday we received some very unfortunate news that I must share with all of you. The 2006 Federal budget looks bleak for Brookhaven. We worked very hard this year and were successful in having Laboratory funding restored to both the House and Senate appropriations bills. In the conference negotiations that were completed yesterday, however, that money was reallocated to "member items" -- money earmarked for the needs of individual House and Senate members. This was totally unexpected. In a typical federal budget process, when a program has funding in both bills, it is almost a certainty that the money will survive the conference. While the conference bill must still go before the full Congress for an up or down vote, that vote is expected as early as today. One possibility is that Congress will give DOE the authorization to reprogram funds within DOE, which could help the Laboratory. Based on the information we have at this time, we are facing a significant budget shortfall for FY06, potentially exceeding $20 million. The impact on the Laboratory will be immediate: - We are again facing significant layoffs, comparable to what we saw in FY05. - The 2006 RHIC run, originally scheduled to begin in December, will be delayed until late in FY06. This will allow us to plan a combined run based on the proposed FY07 budget. I will continue to share information with you as we move forward. - Praveen Chaudhari Laboratory Director