AAAS Presents Updated Budget Analysis

An updated AAAS analysis shows the proposed $132.3 billion research and development portfolio in the 2006 federal budget to be just 0.1 per cent above current levels, well short of the 2.0 per cent increase needed to keep up with inflation.

The revised analysis, which includes a comprehensive assessment of R&D in the proposed budget, was presented March 10 at a briefing for Capitol Hill staff and is now available at www.aaas.org/spp/rd. The AAAS R&D web site also offers detailed agency funding tables, cross-cutting analyses, historical tables and charts, and supplemental R&D funding information at www.aaas.org/spp/rd/fy06.htm.

The federal budget and other policy issues facing the science and technology community will be discussed at the annual AAAS Forum on Science and Technology Policy. The forum will be held April 21-22 at the Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington. Registration is now available online at www.aaas.org/forum.

— Earl Lane

10 March 2005