(This
analysis is an update on progress of the FY 2009 budget through Congress, and
also an update of 2008 and 2009 appropriations. This analysis provides details
on the final version of the FY 2009 economic stimulus appropriations bill. This
February 16 analysis is updated from the February 10,
January 28 and January 16 versions,
with information on the final version of the stimulus bill. More tables and
continually updated supplemental materials on R&D in the FY 2009 budget can
be found on the AAAS R&D Web site at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
Highlights
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AAAS estimates that the final version of the 2009 economic stimulus appropriations
bill contains $21.5 billion in federal research and development (R&D) funding,
$18.0 billion for the conduct of R&D and $3.5 billion for R&D facilities
and capital equipment (see Table). The final bill contains far more in R&D funding
than the $13.2 billion in the House or the $17.8 billion in the Senate versions
of the bill. President Obama is expected to sign
the bill into law on February 17.
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Basic competitiveness-related research, biomedical research, energy R&D, and
climate change programs would be high priorities in the final economic recovery
bill. The National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy Office
of Science (DOE OS), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
the three agencies highlighted in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 and President
Bush’s American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), would all receive significant
boosts to their budgets. The final bill would give NIH $10.4 billion in stimulus
funding as proposed by the Senate. The final bill provides $3.5 billion for energy
R&D at the Department of Energy (DOE) and would fund climate change-related
projects in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
R&D in the Final FY 2009 Stimulus Appropriations Bill
Late
at night on February 12, House and Senate negotiators reached agreement on a final,
compromise version of the long-awaited and much-negotiated American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (HR 1), a $789 billion economic stimulus package to deal
with the current economic crisis. On February 13, the House and Senate each gave
final approval to the bill, and President Obama is expected
to sign the bill into law on February 17. The final bill contains $311 billion
in appropriations, down sharply from $358 billion in House bill but up from the
Senate version (the remainder of the bill would be tax cuts and mandatory (entitlement)
spending).
The
AAAS analysis of the final stimulus bill estimates that the bill contains $21.5
billion in federal research and development (R&D) funding (see Table).
Although the earlier House and Senate versions started out with less for R&D
($13.2 billion in the House and $17.8 billion in the Senate), in almost every
case when the House and Senate had different numbers for R&D funding agencies,
in House-Senate conference negotiators chose the higher number (see Figure 1).
The final stimulus would allocate $18.0 billion for the conduct of R&D
and $3.5 billion for R&D facilities and large research equipment (see Table).
There is also additional money for non-R&D
but science and technology-related programs, higher education construction and
other education spending of interest to academia.
Figure
1. (click on image for full-size PDF)
The
three agencies highlighted for their support of economic competitiveness-related
basic research in the America
COMPETES Act of 2007 and President Bush’s American Competitiveness Initiative
(ACI) would receive $5.2 billion in the final stimulus bill. The National
Science Foundation (NSF) would receive $3.0 billion; the Department of Energy’s
Office of Science (DOE OS) would receive $1.6 billion; and Commerce’s National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) would receive $600 million; nearly
all of these supplementals are for R&D activities.
Stimulus appropriations for these three agencies would finally put all three budgets
on track to double over the next 7 to 10 years as envisioned in the ACI, America
COMPETES, and Obama campaign promises. In addition,
the stimulus bill provides $400 million to DOE for the Advanced Research Projects
Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), a new research agency authorized in the America COMPETES
Act but never funded until now.
The
final stimulus gives the National Institutes of Health (NIH) $10.4 billion as
proposed earlier by the Senate, pushing NIH’s total
budget near $40 billion in FY 2009. The stimulus funding would turn around
a NIH budget that has been in decline since 2004, and could boost the total NIH
budget to $40 billion depending on the outcome of NIH’s
regular FY 2009 appropriations. The Department of Energy’s (DOE) energy programs
would also be a winner with $3.5 billion for R&D and related activities in
renewable energy, energy conservation, and fossil energy, part of nearly $40 billion
total for DOE in weatherization, loan guarantee, clean energy demonstration, and
other energy program funds. And the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) would receive $1.0 billion with an emphasis on climate change-related satellite
missions.
The
final stimulus bill provides billions of dollars for universities to construct
or renovate laboratories and to buy research equipment, as well as money for federal
labs to address their infrastructure needs. The bill provides $3.5 billion for
R&D facilities and capital equipment, to pay for the repair, maintenance,
and construction of scientific laboratories as well as large research equipment
and instrumentation. Considering that R&D facilities funding totaled $4.5
billion in FY 2008, half of which went to just one laboratory (the International
Space Station), the $3.5 billion supplemental will be an enormous boost in the
federal government’s spending on scientific facilities. The final bill provides
$1.4 billion for extramural, competitively selected R&D facilities projects,
nearly entirely at universities, through programs in NIH ($1.0 billion), NSF ($200
million), and NIST ($180 million) that received no federal money in FY 2008. In
addition, NIH would receive $300 million and NSF $300 million for large research
equipment needs in academia through competitive awards. The remaining R&D
facilities and equipment funds would go to intramural laboratory repair and renovation
at NIH, DOE Science, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, and NIST laboratories. And other agencies such as the
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), and NOAA are set to receive stimulus funding for construction and maintenance,
which while not technically R&D facilities funding will be used partially
to renovate existing laboratories or construct new ones.
The
final stimulus bill provides a big boost to the fortunes of federal research in
FY 2009 with its $18.0 billion for the conduct of R&D (basic and applied research,
plus development). The bill’s support of conduct of R&D is heavily weighted
toward basic research, with some applied research funding but relatively little
development funding. For a federal research portfolio that has been declining
in real terms since FY 2004, the final stimulus bill provides an immediate
boost that allows federal research funding to see a real increase for the first
time five years. Under the current CR and the few completed FY 2009 appropriations,
the federal research portfolio stands at $58.3 billion in FY 2009, up just 0.3
percent and thus short of inflation, but after the stimulus bill and assuming
final FY 2009 appropriations are at least at CR levels the federal research portfolio
could jump to nearly $75 billion.
The
final stimulus bill challenges the major R&D funding agencies to spend these
large stimulus appropriations quickly, while at the same time spending them well.
The final stimulus bill does not contain provisions in earlier versions of the
bill requiring nearly all of the funding to be awarded within 120 days of when
the President signs the bill into law, but the intent remains to spend the money
as quickly as possible to provide immediate economic stimulus. Nearly all of the
money is designated as FY 2009 money, and most agencies are now allowed to obligate
funds until the end of September 2010, and spend out the money even after that
if necessary. But there will be intense political pressure to spend all the money
in the stimulus bill quickly, and there will be unusual
scrutiny of how and how fast the money will be spent. The scrutiny will be made
possible by extensive accountability and transparency mandates in the bill, including
separate appropriations for agency inspectors general and the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) to monitor stimulus spending. And there will also be a recovery.gov
web site to provide detailed public disclosure of how stimulus funds are allocated
and spent, so that the American public can also monitor in real time where and
when stimulus monies are spent.
In
a highly unusual move, this stimulus appropriations bill, technically an emergency
supplemental appropriations bill, appears before an FY 2009 omnibus appropriations
bill to provide federal agencies with their final, regular FY 2009 budgets. 9
out of the 12 FY 2009 appropriations bills remain unfinished, meaning only the
Departments of Defense (DOD), Homeland Security (DHS), and Veterans Affairs (VA)
have their final FY 2009 budgets. All other federal agencies are temporarily operating
at or below FY 2008 funding levels under a continuing resolution (CR) through
March 6.
The
accompanying Table lists key R&D and other science and technology-related
items in the final stimulus appropriations bill. Key R&D funding agency highlights
of the bills include:
National
Science Foundation (NSF) - $3.0 billion (see Table.
Note: FY 2008 total budget $6.1 billion). Within Research and Related Activities
(R&RA), NSF’s core research account, $2.0 billion would go to research grants
distributed through NSF’s regular peer review process. The bill would also provide $300 million to the Major Research Instrumentation program (FY 08: $94 million) of competitively awarded instrumentation grants for university researchers, and $200 million to restart the Academic Research Infrastructure Program Facilities Modernization, dormant since FY 1996, for competitively awarded grants, primarily for universities. The $100 million education and human resources (EHR) appropriation
would provide $60 million to the Noyce Teacher Scholarship
Program (FY 08: $11 million), $25 million to the Math and Science Partnerships
program (FY 08: $49 million), and $15 million to a new Professional Masters Science
Program authorized in the America COMPETES Act. Major Research Equipment and Facilities
Construction (MREFC) spending of $400 million (FY 08: $205 million) would accelerate
the construction of major research facilities with unique capabilities at the
cutting edge of science. Depending on final FY 2009 appropriations, the stimulus
puts NSF well ahead of the $7.3 billion authorized for FY 2009 in the America
COMPETES Act of 2007 and thus on track to double over a decade.
National
Institutes of Health (NIH) - $10.4 billion (see Figure 1; FY 08: $29.6 billion).
The final bill allocates $7.4 billion to be distributed proportionally among the
NIH’s institutes and centers (ICs) through the Office
of the Director (OD) to fund intramural and extramural research. With NIH success
rates running below 20 percent for grant competitions, the hope is for NIH to
distribute these funds through regular, already scheduled grant review cycles
without sacrificing quality. Another $800 million would remain in the Office of
the Director, with priority given for 2-year, short-term special research grants
to be awarded competitively. NIH also receives $500 million for intramural construction
in the Buildings and Facilities account, and $1.0 billion for competitively awarded
extramural grants through a dormant National
Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
program that last received $30 million in FY 2005, exclusively for the repair
and modernization of existing academic research facilities. Another $300 million
for NCRR would provide competitive awards for instrumentation and other capital
equipment for research. And the final stimulus bill also gives NIH $400 million
to be transferred from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for
'health care comparative effectiveness research.' The enormous stimulus appropriation
would give NIH a total FY 2009 budget of $39.9 billion, a total that could
go even higher in final FY 2009 appropriations. Most NIH institutes and centers
(ICs) would enjoy record-breaking budgets in FY 2009.
Department
of Energy (DOE) Office of Science – There would be $1.6 billion (FY 08: $4.0
billion) for a mix of extramural basic research, DOE laboratory research, facilities
upgrades and construction, and advanced scientific computing. The stimulus appropriation
combined with the regular appropriation could leave DOE OS with a FY 2009 budget
of $6.0 billion or higher, well above the $5.3 billion authorized for FY 2009
in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 and thus on a track to double over a decade.
In addition to the Science funding, the stimulus bill also provides $400 million
to start up the ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy), authorized
in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 but never appropriated until now.
NIST
- $600 million in the final stimulus bill (FY 08: $737 million). There would
be $220 million for NIST laboratory research (FY 08: $441 million), $180 million
for NIST laboratory construction, and $180 million for a competitively awarded
extramural construction grants program that was congressionally initiated a few
years ago but only received $30 million for one year and was able to make only
three awards out of 90 applications. Left out of the final bill are House proposals
to spend $70 million for the Technology Innovation Program (formerly the ATP)
and $30 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, NIST’s two extramural programs. The stimulus appropriations
combined with a regular appropriation could leave NIST with a FY 2009 budget of
$1.3 billion or higher, well above the $882 million authorized for FY 2009 in
the America COMPETES Act of 2007 and thus on a track to double over a decade.
Department
of Energy (DOE) energy programs – The stimulus bill provides $2.5 billion
for energy efficiency and renewable research, development, demonstration, and
deployment projects, of which $800 million is set aside for biomass (FY 08: $198
million) and $400 million for geothermal energy (FY 08: $20 million). There would
also be $1.0 billion specifically for R&D programs within a $3.4 billion total
Fossil Energy appropriation, which will fund R&D related to cleaner coal,
oil, and gas technologies, including research on carbon sequestration.
NASA
- $1.0 billion in the final stimulus bill (FY 08: $17.2 billion). The bill
provides $400 million for the Science portfolio of earth science, planetary science,
heliophysics, and astrophysics, to accelerate the development
and launch of key earth science climate research missions highlighted in a 2007
National Academies Decadal Study as being critical to future U.S. climate research
and requiring extra funds to stay on track. There would also be $150 million in
stimulus funding for aeronautics research, and funding ($50 million) to reimburse
NASA for construction and repair costs associated with 2008 natural disasters.
The final bill also contains $400 million in development funding to Constellation
Systems to narrow the looming gap in U.S.
human space flight capabilities between the 2010 retirement of the Space Shuttle
and the 2015 launch of its replacement.
Department
of Defense (DOD) – There would be $200 million for energy-related R&D
at DOD, which already has its final FY 2009 budget.
Other
R&D funding agencies receiving funding in the stimulus bills include: the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS), $176
million for deferred maintenance work at USDA laboratories; the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Commerce, $830 million for (non-R&D)
habitat and fisheries restoration projects and (non-R&D) acquisition and development
of NOAA satellites and sensors, although some of these satellites will eventually
be used for climate research and climate modeling; the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) in Interior, $140 million for repair and restoration of science facilities
and laboratory equipment for USGS’ nationwide network of federal laboratories;
the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), $1.1 billion in both the
House and Senate for health care comparative effectiveness research divided between
a $400 million transfer to NIH (already included in NIH totals above), a $400
million transfer to the Office of the HHS Secretary, and $300 million for AHRQ.
Next Steps and Possible Impacts
President
Obama intends to sign HR 1 into law on February 17.
For the science and engineering community, the stimulus bill represents a welcome
acknowledgement from policymakers that scientific research, often regarded as
long-term and future-oriented, also has a role to play in short-term economic
recovery, and also represents a dramatic turnaround from the flat or declining
research funding trends of recent years. But the real challenges of the stimulus
are just beginning: now it is up to the research funding agencies and the entire
science and engineering community to spend these funds quickly and wisely, and
to demonstrate the impacts of federal R&D funding not only on the economic
health of the nation but also on the long-term foundation for achieving important
national goals in competitiveness, energy, climate, and health.
(More materials on R&D in the FY 2009 budget,
historical data and charts, and more information on AAAS Report XXXIII: Research and Development FY
2009, can be found on the AAAS R&D Web site at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
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February 16, 2009
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York
Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607
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