Budget may restore funds to Fermilab, Argonne

A reprieve could be on the horizon for two national laboratories facing significant cuts.

President Bush's 2009 budget proposal unveiled Monday would help restore funding for Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory slashed in the 2008 fiscal year.

But the budget still must pass Congress and it's unclear how the plan will affect staffing and program reductions already in place.

Already, Fermilab in Batavia on Friday started rolling furloughs that will mean 1,900 employees lose one week of pay every two months.

Also threatened by the reductions was the International Linear Collider project, an underground tube that sends electrons and positrons -- atomic particles -- smashing into each other at high rates of speed. The data produced by the collisions will help researchers learn about the nature of matter.

Argonne, located near Darien, in January announced job reductions and shutdown of its Intense Pulsed Neutron Source, which allows scientists to study atomic movement in solids and liquids.

Other cutbacks were anticipated at Argonne's Advanced Photo Source, a high-powered X-ray.

The budget proposal would increase revenues for Fermilab and Argonne between 18 percent and 8 percent, respectively, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin estimated.

The downstate Democrat has teamed with Republican U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert of Hinsdale in lobbying to get the money back.

Biggert said quick action is necessary to forestall research setbacks caused by the furloughs.