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On January 23, 2004, Congress finally approved the Fiscal
Year (FY) 2004 omnibus appropriations bill containing funds for the
Department of Health and Human Services, National Science Foundation
(NSF), and other federal agencies. In this bill, Congress has provided a
record-setting $127 billion for federal research and development. However,
93 percent of the increase goes to just three agencies: the Department of
Defense (DOD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and National
Institutes of Health (NIH), with DOD accounting for 80 percent of the
increase.
The omnibus bill includes an across-the-board cut of 0.59 percent for all
agencies except the Department of Defense, even those whose budgets were
signed into law in 2003. DOD's Research and Development (R&D) budget
increases 13 percent to reach a total of $66.3 billion, and the DHS budget
gets a 56 percent boost to $1.04 billion.
Other research agencies do not fare as well. The omnibus bill adds $847
million to NIH for a total of $27.1 billion, a modest 3 percent increase
after five years of 15 percent increases. Congress provides a five percent
increase for NSF, with a total budget of $5.6 billion, $4.1 billion of
which is allocated for R&D. The Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA)
receives a 2.5 percent increase, bringing its R&D budget to $820
million. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spending
will hold steady at $15.4 billion, while R&D funding within NASA
actually declines 0.4 percent to $11.0 billion. The omnibus spending bill
provides a $2.9 billion increase for the Department of Education, up four
percent from FY03.
Just as we began to absorb those numbers, the Bush Administration released
its Fiscal Year 2005 (FY05) budget proposal on February 2, 2004.
Highlights of the research agency budget requests appear below.
National Science Foundation: The NSF's FY 2005 budget request is $5.745
billion, a three percent increase, or approximately $167 million over this
year's enacted appropriation for NSF ($5.6 billion). A total of $2.845
billion - a $56 million increase over FY 2004 - is requested for
"Ideas," representing 49 percent of NSF's total budget.
"Ideas" is one of four strategic goals for NSF in FY 2005. It
comprises direct research awards to investigators, centers programs,
international activities, research funding for five top "priority
areas" including the behavioral priority area, "Human and Social
Dynamics," and a new $5 million Innovation Fund to enable NSF to
respond quickly to rapidly emerging activities at the frontiers of
learning and discovery. Department of Defense: The DoD budget includes a basic and
applied research request for $10.55 billion. This is 12.7 percent less
than the Fiscal Year 2004 funding level, but an increase over the
President's request of last year. The budget request for specific
behavioral science programs was not available at press time. [back to top]
National Institutes of Health: The administration's budget requests a
disappointingly modest 2.6 percent increase for NIH, bringing its funding
to $28.8 billion. NIH would fund 258 added research project grants with
its increase, but growth in numbers would mean cuts in funding for all
research projects. NIH would cut back on the annual
"cost-of-living" increases on non-competing continuation grants
and limit cost increases on new and successfully re-competed projects to
one percent, thereby creating more grants funded at lower levels. The NIH
Roadmap for Biomedical Research would receive $237 million if the
President's proposal is enacted, an increase of $109 million over FY 2004.
Within that amount, the Office of the Director would receive $60 million,
an increase of $25 million, to disburse through the NIH Director's
Discretionary Fund. The remaining $177 million would come from NIH
institutes and centers, each of which would contribute .63 percent of its
budget request. Research training would receive an increase of $15
million, or two percent, for a total of $764 million. The proposal
includes funding for 17,791 research trainees, up 225 from FY 2004. APA is
advocating a ten percent increase in NIH funding, to $30.6 billion.
Bioterrorism: Government-wide, funding for terrorism
countermeasures is an area of budget increase, but not in all cases. Two
bioterrorism preparedness programs are cut: the Health Resources and
Services Administration's hospital preparedness program loses $39 million,
a cut of 7.5 percent; and the Center for Disease Control's State and Local
preparedness program loses $105 million, or 11 percent. The latter amount
is redirected into a new biosurveillance initiative that stresses new
technologies at the expense of trained personnel who are needed to provide
the response when early warnings of disease or attack occur. Department of Homeland Security: DHS receives a 10.5 percent increase in
the President's budget. The2005 Budget requests just over one billion
dollars for
research and development. Within DHS, the Directorate of Science and
Technology (S&T) serves as a centralized R&D arm that consolidates
piecemeal R&D efforts into one agency. Its focus is to harness
revolutionary technology, which can be used by law enforcement and
emergency response personnel in carrying out their mission to protect the
Nation. S&T works to solicit proposals and seeks to engage the
established U.S. R&D community in the fight against terrorism. [back to top]
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: The 2005 NASA budget
provides $9.4 billion for federal science and technology programs, a
1.3-percent increase over the 2004 level. ?The 2005 Budget supports the
President's new initiative of sustained solar system exploration involving
both humans and robots. This initiative encompasses programs of lunar
exploration; further robotic exploration of the solar system; focused
exploration of Mars to accelerate the search for water and life and to
prepare for future human exploration; and robotic space exploration; and
refocused Space Station research on activities that support
space-exploration goals.
Institute of Education Sciences (IES): The 2005 Budget provides a total of
$449.6 million for the broad activities of the institute, including $91.4
million for statistics, and $94.8 million for National Assessment of
Educational Progress.. . The President's budget includes a $20 million
increase in funding for research, development, and dissemination ($185
million in 2005), which supports research programs on cognition and
student learning and other research to advance understanding of how
students learn and identify effective approaches and interventions to
improve education. The Administration has also provided $78 million for
research and innovation in special education research in 2005, which was
previously funded through the Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services. Release of the President's budget is only the first step in the yearly
cycle by which federal programs are funded. A budget must be approved by
the U.S. House and Senate, and each of 14 appropriations, or spending,
bills, encompassing different combinations of federal agencies, must be
approved by both Houses of Congress and signed by the
President.
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