Highlights
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) R&D falls 4.9 percent in
the final FY 2004 Agriculture bill to $2.2 billion in FY 2004 because of steep
cuts to research facilities funding (see Table). Without facilities, USDA
R&D increases slightly.
-
Congress added $223 million to the Administration’s request,
but still falls $111 million short of the FY 2003 funding level. USDA
had requested a 15 percent cut in its R&D portfolio.
- Although USDA requested $200 million for the National Research Initiative
of competitively awarded extramural research grants, Congress provides
only $164 million.
- Congress instead
provides $111 million for the congressionally earmarked Special Research
Grants, nearly even with last year’s funding level but $107 million
more than the request.
Nearly
four months after the start of FY 2004, Congress gave final approval
on January 22 to an omnibus appropriations bill (HR 2673) that sets
final funding levels for USDA and several other R&D funding agencies.
The House approved the omnibus bill on December 8, but the Senate delayed
final action until January 22; President Bush is expected to sign the
bill into law by the end of January. The FY 2004 omnibus bill provides USDA with
a total R&D budget of $2.2 billion in FY 2004, $111 million or 4.9
percent less than FY 2003 (see Table).
(Note: the figures in the Table are adjusted to reflect an across-the-board
cut of 0.59 percent included in the omnibus bill).
USDA R&D in FY 2004 Final Appropriations
The cuts to USDA’s
R&D are concentrated in the intramural Buildings and Facilities
account, which totals only $63 million in FY 2004 compared to $229 million
in FY 2003. Last year’s total included a $110 million one-time emergency
appropriation to USDA’s Ames
laboratory in the April 2003 Iraq
war supplemental (Public Law 108-11), as well as other one-time funding
that was not renewed. The Buildings and Facilities cut is more than
the total USDA cut; excluding Buildings and Facilities, USDA R&D
actually increases by 1.8 percent. (For full details of the President’s
request for USDA R&D and full information on USDA R&D programs,
see Chapter 11 of AAAS Report XXVIII: R&D FY 2004.)
Since the terrorist attacks of fall 2001, congressional attention has
been focused on the vulnerability of USDA agricultural research facilities,
many of which house dangerous pathogens, to terrorist attack. Congress
has provided extra funds to beef up security at USDA labs, particularly
the Ames laboratory in Iowa
and Plum Island
in New York (transferred
in June to the Department of Homeland Security). Funding for the Buildings
and Facilities account, which funds construction and modernization of
USDA facilities, jumped from $74 million in FY 2001 before the terrorist
attacks to $190 million in FY 2002 and $229 million in FY 2003; funding
for both years includes one-time emergency appropriations specifically
geared to counter-terrorism security upgrades. The FY 2004 request would
have reduced the B&F account down to $24 million for mostly routine
security upgrades. Congress trimmed the funding for the requested projects
and added on $52 million for congressionally designated construction
projects for a total of $63 million, a $165 million drop from last year.
There may be more earmarked projects in the future: the report accompanying
the bill instructs USDA to prepare reports on the feasibility and construction
requirements for 8 new laboratories by next March, in time for next
year’s appropriations cycle.
Congress added
funds to the request for USDA’s intramural research activities in the
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to bring funding 3.5 percent above
the FY 2003 funding level of $1.1 billion. ARS funds intramural research
through a nationwide network of intramural laboratories and agricultural
experiment stations, including research on congressionally designated
topics.
USDA’s extramural
research grants, nearly entirely to colleges and universities, are administered
by USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service
(CSREES). Total CSREES R&D is $604 million in the
omnibus bill, a 0.6 percent cut from the FY 2003 level though an improvement
over a steeper 14 percent cut in the request. The difference comes mainly
from the insertion of numerous congressionally designated projects,
projects that the Administration proposed to terminate. Congress
provides $111 million for Special
Research Grants, down slightly from the FY 2003 level of $112 million
but up dramatically from the presidential request of $3 million. This
program has traditionally been home to congressionally designated, performer-specific
research projects. The omnibus bill funds 210 itemized projects, all
but six of which are for geographically specific congressionally designated
projects, and nearly all of which were also earmarked for funding in
FY 2003. Moreover, the omnibus bill contains more than 40 other geographically
designated projects in other parts of the CSREES budget, totaling $29
million.
In
order to offset the add-ons for congressionally earmarks, Congress trimmed
funds from the request for competitively awarded research grants, also
administered by CSREES. The National Research Initiative (NRI) receives
$164 million, well below the $200 million request and $2 million less
than last year. USDA also provides formula funds for agricultural R&D
to qualifying institutions in programs such as the Hatch Act, which
stays even with FY 2003 funding at $179 million in FY 2004.
The other major
USDA R&D agency is the Forest Service; it has $281 million for its
R&D programs in FY 2004, an increase of $16 million or 6.0 percent.
Although the primary focus of its R&D portfolio is forestry and
ecosystems research, in recent years the Forest Service has emphasized
its fire science and wildfire management research portfolio as well.
Most of this research is performed in intramural laboratories, although
the Forest Service also operates an extramural fire science grants program.
The omnibus bill
contains several legislative provisions that are renewed annually. One
provision imposes a cap on indirect costs to extramural performers for
USDA R&D at 20 percent, far less than what most universities recover
for non-USDA grants, and a lower ceiling of 10 percent for independent
nonprofit institutions engaged in cooperative R&D. Another provision
blocks funding for a mandatory competitive research grants program again,
but allows USDA to use its discretionary grants programs such as NRI
to fund research on topics that the mandatory program might have funded.
A new provision in the bill authorizes the creation of a new USDA R&D
program on biobased energy technologies and products, but does not provide
any new funding.
Impacts of the USDA R&D Portfolio
Figure 1. (click on the image to
view or download a color, full-page PDF version of the chart)
Figure 2. (click on the image to
view or download a color, full-page PDF version of the chart)
The FY 2004 increase for R&D
ends the recent trend of increases for USDA related to counter-terrorism
activities. USDA R&D peaked in FY 2003 (see Figure 1). Since hitting a
recent low in FY 1996, the funding trend has been generally upward, first
because the federal budget surplus made more discretionary funds available to
congressional appropriators, then in FY 2000 and FY 2001 as the release of
mandatory competitive research funds allowed USDA to exceed its early 1990s
funding levels, and then in the last two years because of heightened concern
about agricultural terrorism and the security of USDA laboratories. The
mandatory research program’s funds have been blocked for the last two years,
and the upgrading of lab security has been completed, resulting in the FY 2004
cuts to funding levels that are still high by historical standards.
USDA is the sixth-largest
supporter of R&D in the federal government, and its support is especially
important for key disciplines. USDA is responsible for just 6 percent
of all research support in the broad area of the life sciences, but
dominates funding for two disciplines within life sciences, agricultural
sciences and environmental biology (see Figure 2). USDA funds more than
90 percent of all federal support for the agricultural sciences, with
the remainder supported by the Agency for International Development
(for international agriculture R&D) and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (for aquaculture and other marine-related
R&D). USDA is also an important supporter of chemistry and biology,
and represents more than half of total federal support for economics,
mostly for agricultural economics in the Economic Research Service (ERS).
Figure 3. (click on the image to
view or download a color, full-page PDF version of the chart)
Figure 3 shows trends in USDA
support for research (basic and applied research, excluding development and
R&D facilities) by discipline. The agricultural sciences within life sciences
make up the vast majority of USDA research funding. USDA life sciences support
stagnated in the 1990s along with total USDA research, but in recent years the
trend has been mostly upward. The USDA research investment declined in FY 2003 because
of the shift to facilities improvements, but should increase slightly in FY
2004 to bring USDA agricultural sciences and overall research support close to
the record funding levels of FY 2002.
The performers of USDA’s R&D portfolio reflect
the division of labor between ARS and CSREES. The entire ARS R&D
portfolio, as well as most of the Forest Service portfolio, is performed
in USDA laboratories, while nearly all the CSREES portfolio is performed
in universities. As a result, roughly 70 percent of USDA R&D is
performed in-house, while universities perform close to 30 percent.
Next Steps
The House
approved the omnibus bill on December 8, and the Senate gave final approval
on January 22. Until a final budget is signed, USDA is operating at
last year’s funding levels under a continuing resolution extending through
January 31; President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law by
then.
(This analysis is one of a series
of AAAS R&D Funding Updates on the FY 2004 appropriations process.
This analysis includes information on R&D in final appropriations
for USDA. The complete series of AAAS R&D Funding Updates, including
continually updated analyses of R&D by agency in FY 2004 appropriations,
is available on the AAAS R&D Web Site (http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd)
in the “FY 2004 R&D” or the “What’s
New” sections.)
- December 10, 2003 (revised Jan. 23)
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607; -6600
www.aaas.org/spp/rd
