Copyright 2003 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.
December 20, 2002
Unable to make substantial progress on fiscal year (FY) 2003 appropriations, the 107th Congress adjourned in November, leaving key decisions affecting federal research and development (R&D) funding to the 108th Congress, which will convene in January.
Although FY 2003 started on October 1, only 2 of the 13 appropriations bills, both covering defense spending, have been signed into law. These bills provide record increases for federal defense R&D (see table). The 11 nondefense appropriations bills, however, are all incomplete. Although the House and Senate have drafted initial versions that would provide increases for many nondefense R&D programs, until they are signed into law, all domestic programs will have to operate at last year's (FY 2002) funding levels through a series of temporary appropriations bills called continuing resolutions. The current continuing resolution lasts until January 11, but the appropriations process may not conclude until at least late January or February.
Defense R&D
Congress and President Bush have given final approval to $58.8 billion for Department of Defense (DOD) R&D in FY 2003, an increase of $9.1 billion or 18.4 percent that brings the total above its FY 1987 peak Cold War funding level to a new all-time high. DOD weapons systems would receive much of the increase, but basic research ("6.1"; $1.5 billion, up 6.8 percent) and applied research ("6.2"; $4.5 billion, up 10.8 percent) would also get significant boosts. DOD "S&T" activities, encompassing research plus advanced technology development, would exceed $11 billion for the first time to reach $11.7 billion (up 13.5 percent), reaching 3.2 percent of the total DOD budget, in contrast to the 2.6 percent proposed in the president's request. President Bush signed the DOD budget into law on October 23.
Nondefense R&D
Combining the defense bill with the eleven nondefense bills as they have been drafted by the Senate would boost total FY 2003 federal R&D funding to a record high of $117 billion, an unprecedented $14 billion (14 percent) increase over the $103 billion provided in FY 2002. While the lion's share of this increase would go to defense R&D and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), nondefense R&D excluding NIH would rise 4.4 percent. This total includes a hefty 11.9 percent increase for R&D at the National Science Foundation (NSF), which would total $3.9 billion. The Senate would complete NIH's five-year doubling plan, providing a 16.4 percent increase in R&D funding for a total of $26.4 billion. Most other agencies would also get increases over FY 2002, with the exception of the Transportation and Agriculture Departments, whose FY 2002 budgets were inflated with one-time emergency appropriations to respond to last year's terrorist attacks.
The nine nondefense bills drafted by the House would also provide generous increases for many R&D programs, including a 14.5 percent ($510 million) boost for NSF R&D, a 6.9 percent ($697 million) increase for R&D at NASA, and an 8.3 percent ($48 million) increase in EPA R&D. The Department of Energy's Office of Science, however, would see its R&D budget fall by 0.3 percent ($10 million). The House, however, has not drafted two of the largest—and most contentious—appropriations bills, which include the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Commerce.
Outlook
The president's budget request proposed a total of $750 billion for all discretionary spending, and he has repeatedly insisted that he will veto any appropriations bills that could cause the total to exceed that amount. The House set a $755 billion total, but found it impossible to write 13 appropriations bills capable of winning a House majority while staying within the total. Thus, two of the biggest bills were never drafted.
The Senate discretionary spending total was set at $771 billion, $21 billion more than the president's request. This higher total made it possible to draft all 13 appropriations bills, but the full Senate approved only 1 nondefense bill because the floor schedule was consumed with debates on homeland security legislation, authorization for military action against Iraq, drought and other disaster relief, and other non-budget issues.
The 108th Congress will begin with a clean legislative slate and may choose to focus immediately on appropriations. The strong performance of Republicans in the November elections, attributed in part to President Bush's active role on the campaign trail, will likely provide the president with greater leverage to bring the process to a close at his requested spending levels. A Republican-controlled Senate, moreover, may be amenable to bringing its discretionary totals in line with President Bush's request.
Thus, the hefty R&D increases proposed by the Senate and House may be in jeopardy. While the large increase for NIH approved by the Senate will probably remain because it was included in the president's budget and has strong support in both chambers, President Bush requested an overall cut in other nondefense R&D programs. Agencies such as NSF and NASA may therefore see smaller budgets if House and Senate negotiators are forced to lower their overall funding levels toward the president's rather than raising them toward the Senate's.
Also uncertain is the end date of the FY 2003 appropriations process. Even with the political will to make final decisions, January is normally a slow legislative month for Congress. But lawmakers will be mindful that the president's proposed FY 2004 budget will be released on February 3, and that a possible military campaign in Iraq will require FY 2003 supplemental defense appropriations. So it is possible that Congress will make an extraordinary push to finish this year's budget before the next one comes along, most likely by bundling the eleven bills into one or two omnibus bills. In the meantime, agencies will continue at FY 2002 funding levels, with a significant possibility that they will have to live at these levels for several more months. •••
Kei Koizumi, director of the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program, contributed to this article.
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