R&D Budget and Policy Program

2010 S&T Policy Forum

The 35th annual S&T Policy Forum will be held 13-14 May 2010 at the International Trade Center in the Ronald Reagan Building.

- posted March 3, 2010

Congress Passes Another Debt Limit Increase

H.J.Res. 45, presented to the President for signature on Feburary 4, raises the U.S. debt limit by $1.9 trillion from $12.394 trillion to $14.294 trillion. Attached to the resolution is the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 which enforces budget neutrality on new revenue and spending legislation with some special conditions and exceptions for current programs and legislation.

- posted February 12, 2010

FY 2011 President's Budget Release

The President's Fiscal Year 2011 Budget

AAAS FY 2011 R&D Budget Page

- posted February 2, 2010

NSB Releases Science and Engineering Indicators 2010

One-page Summary

The National Science Board (NSB) rolled out the Science and Engineering Indicators (SEI) 2010 this morning at the White House Conference Center. The National Science Foundation (NSF) released the first SEI in 1972 as required by statute and biennially in even numbered years since then. SEI serves as the authoritative international source on science and engineering statistics including data on workforce, education, public attitudes on science and engineering, and funding.

Generally, the trends indicate that while the United States continues to be the world leader in science and engineering, other countries, especially those in East Asia, are dramatically increasing their own investments in science and engineering and closing the gap.

- posted January 15, 2010

FY 2010 Appropriations

Presentations and charts on the appropriation bills

Current status of the appropriation bills

Guest blog entry on Defense R&D on Budget Insight

Summary of Congressional Action on the FY 2010 Budget by Agency

R&D in the FY 2010 Budget by Agency

Agency Tables

U.S. Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Homeland Security
Department of the Interior
Department of Transportation
Department of Veterans Affairs
Environmental Protection Agency
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Institutes of Health
National Science Foundation

- updated January 5, 2010

Debt Limit Raised by $290 billion

H.R. 4314, signed by the President on Dec 28, raises the U.S. debt limit from $12.104 trillion to $12.394 trillion. The amount of the increase was less than what had been originally proposed and will force Congress to address the debt limit again before the 2010 elections.

- posted December 29, 2009

Obama's Goal of 3.0% of GDP Investment in R&D

Guest Commentary titled "The Path to 3.0%" in Illinois Science & Technology Coalition Catalyst

- posted December 8, 2009

Recovery Act (ARRA) Spending Analyses

AAAS Recovery Act (ARRA) Spending Tables

ScienceWorksForUS website

Research!America NIH ARRA Spending

- updated December 3, 2009

AAAS Report XXXIV: Research and Development FY 2010

The complete book is now available online.

AAAS Report XXXIV: Research and Development FY 2010 The full text of the 273-page report, including nearly 40 tables, is available online in PDF format and hardcopies can be ordered below. This reference work provides a comprehensive analysis of R&D in the President's budget for FY 2010, including specialized analyses by theme, major agency, and discipline. For more information on R&D in the FY 2010 budget, see the FY 2010 R&D page. Order yours today! Non-Member / AAAS Member Non-Member $19.95 AAAS Member $15.95

- posted September 1, 2009

Final Stimulus Bill Provides $21.5 Billion for Federal R&D (HTML)

- posted February 16, 2009

FY 2010 Budget Request and Analysis

On May 7, 2009 President Obama released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2010. Despite a large increase in discretionary spending of 9.1 percent overall and 16.0 percent for non-defense discretionary accounts, federal investment in R&D would remain essentially flat when funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are excluded. A 2.0 percent cut in defense R&D would be offset by a 3.6 increase in non-defense R&D. Click here for all the details.

Congress Finalizes Omnibus Budget for FY2009: Increases Across All Major R&D Agencies

Almost six months into the fiscal year, Congress gave final approval to a fiscal year (FY) 2009 omnibus bill on March 10 combining the nine unfinished appropriations bills, which President Obama later signed into law (P.L. 111-8) on March 11. The final $410 billion omnibus budget wraps up the FY 2009 appropriations for the remaining agencies that had been operating on a continuing resolution (CR) since the end of the 110th Congress.  Included in the omnibus bill is $151.1 billion in federal R&D, an increase of $6.8 billion or 4.7 percent above the FY 2008 estimate.  As a result, every major R&D funding agency will receive an increase greater than the expected rate of inflation, and in many cases the final FY 2009 numbers are larger than the budget request submitted by the previous administration to the 110th Congress. See the complete AAAS analysis of the bill for more details, including figures with and without stimulus funds.

Large gains for COMPETES Agencies. The National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy’s Office of Science (DOE OS), and Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology laboratories (NIST), agencies slated for doubling as part of the America COMPETES Act passed by the previous Congress, will see increases in funding for FY 2009 consistent with doubling their budgets over a decade.  Excluding stimulus funds, the three agencies in FY 2009 receive $4.8 billion for R&D (up 6.8 percent) at NSF, $4.3 billion for R&D (up 17.3 percent) at the DOE OS, and $561 million for R&D (up 7.5 percent) at NIST. Including the appropriations in the stimulus bill for these agencies results in respective increases in R&D to $7.5 billion (up 66 percent), $6.1 billion (up 69 percent), and $1.1 billion (up 115 percent over 2008 levels. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will also receive a significant boost, with a total budget of $30.5 billion, a 3.2 percent increase, and a total budget of $40.9 billion (a 38 percent increase) with the stimulus funds included.

- posted March 23, 2009

About the R&D Budget and Policy Program

Since 1976, the R&D Budget and Policy Program has been providing timely, comprehensive, and independent analyses of R&D funding trends in the federal budget as a service to the science, engineering and policymaking communities.

Through its Web site and email list, the Program makes available continually updated coverage of R&D funding trends, ongoing budget debates in Congress and the Executive Branch, and potential impacts of budget legislation. The Web site also offers a guide to R&D funding data as well as downloadable copies of its printed reports.

Every spring, the Program hosts the annual AAAS Forum on Science and Technology Policy (formerly the AAAS Colloquium), the nation's premier conference devoted to S&T policy. The next Forum will be held May 13 - 14, 2010, in Washington, DC.