2 - Overview of R&D Trends

2

Overview of R&D Trends (continued)

AGENCY HIGHLIGHTS

· Department of Defense (DOD) R&D totals $39.1 billion, $4.0 billion more than the request and $1.1 billion or 3.0 percent more than FY 1999 (see Tables 4 and 5). DOD funding of basic and applied research is well above both the request and the FY 1999 funding level. DOD's basic research ("6.1") totals $1.2 billion, 5.4 percent above FY 1999, while applied research ("6.2") totals $3.4 billion, 7.5 percent above FY 1999. Including DOD's medical research programs, DOD S&T ("6.1" through "6.3" programs, representing DOD's investments in basic and applied research and technology development) increases by 11.0 percent to $8.7 billion, though even this increase leaves DOD S&T 6.1 percent below the FY 1994 level after adjusting for inflation (see Figure 2). The final Defense bill contains substantial increases for the overall DOD budget as well as for R&D programs, after a decade-long post-Cold War decline. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) budget declines by $82 million or 4.2 percent to $1.8 billion. DOD receives $60 million of a requested $100 million for the multi-agency IT² initiative.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is once again the beneficiary of strong support for biomedical research from both branches of government. The NIH budget of $17.8 billion represents a $2.2 billion or 14.3 percent increase over FY 1999 (see Table 8), keeping NIH on the second year of a course toward doubling its budget in five years. However, $3.0 billion of the budget is withheld until September 29, 2000, a day before the end of FY 2000, in order to shift spending to FY 2001. Unless this provision is changed, NIH will have to operate for nearly all of FY 2000 on less than its FY 1999 budget. Every institute receives an increase greater than 12 percent, and five receive increases greater than 20 percent. Because of steady increases every year, the NIH R&D budget is now 47 percent larger in inflation-adjusted terms than it was in FY 1994 (see Figure 2).

· The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) total budget is $13.6 billion in FY 2000, 0.5 percent less than FY 1999 (see Table 6). Total NASA R&D, which excludes the Space Shuttle and its mission support costs, increases slightly by 0.6 percent to $9.8 billion. The Science, Aeronautics, and Technology (SAT) account receives $5.6 billion, a reduction of 1.2 percent from FY 1999 but $161 million more than the request. Space Science has 2.7 percent more than FY 1999 for a total of $2.2 billion; there is reduced funding for future Discovery and Explorer missions, which could result in fewer spacecraft launches over the next few years than NASA had planned; funding is also reduced for the Mars missions in response to the recent loss of a Mars spacecraft. Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications (LMSA) receives $275 million, an increase of 4.3 percent; much of the increase is for a dedicated shuttle science mission by 2001. NASA receives $2.3 billion for continued development and construction of the International Space Station, $70 million or 3.1 percent more than FY 1999 but $161 million less than the request.

In the wake of congressional anger over allegations of security breaches and mismanagement at Department of Energy (DOE) weapons laboratories, Congress recently moved DOE's weapons-related activities to a new semi-autonomous agency within DOE called the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Meanwhile, DOE has an R&D budget of $7.2 billion for FY 2000, $258 million or 3.7 percent more than FY 1999 (see Table 7). The Science account totals $2.6 billion for R&D, a slight decline of 0.3 percent. Fusion Energy Sciences receives a boost of 11.2 percent to $246 million, while Nuclear Physics increases 3.9 percent to $347 million. The final budget denies funding for the proposed Scientific Simulation Initiative, part of the proposed IT² initiative. Congress reduces funding for the Spallation Neutron Source to $117 million, down from a requested $214 million. In DOE's investments in energy R&D, nuclear energy R&D ($91 million, up 19.3 percent), fossil energy R&D ($330 million, up 11.9 percent), and energy conservation R&D ($440 million, up 10.0 percent) all receive substantial increases. In defense R&D, the Stockpile Stewardship program is funded at $2.2 billion, $126 million or 5.9 percent more than last year despite the controversies over the weapons labs.

· The National Science Foundation (NSF) receives $3.9 billion for its total budget in FY 2000, an increase of 5.0 percent (see Table 10). NSF's R&D funding, which excludes NSF's education and training activities and overhead costs, totals $2.9 billion (up 5.2 percent). NSF receives $126 million out of a requested $146 million for new fundamental information technology (IT) research activities in FY 2000, most of which comes from the Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering (up 30.6 percent to $390 million). NSF also receives $36 million in Major Research Equipment for Terascale Computing Systems, an IT project. Although growth in the NSF budget stagnated somewhat in the mid-1990s, in the last few years it has received significant funding increases. NSF's R&D is 14.4 percent higher in inflation-adjusted terms compared to FY 1994 (see Figure 2), one of only two major R&D funding agencies to receive increased funding over this time period.

· Funding for the Department of Commerce's R&D programs increases slightly in FY 2000. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) sees its R&D budget rise modestly by 1.0 percent or $5 million to $473 million (see Table 11). Within NIST, the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) receives $130 million for R&D activities, a cut of 27.0 percent, but this is offset by a near-doubling to $108 million for the mostly intramural Construction of Research Facilities program. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) programs for natural resources and environment R&D increase by $17 million or 2.8 percent to $617 million. Total Commerce R&D is $1.1 billion (up 2.0 percent).

· The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has an R&D budget of $1.7 billion in FY 1999, an increase of $56 million (up 3.4 percent; see Table 12). This amount, though an increase, is still far below the request of $1.85 billion because the final bill blocks two non-appropriated competitive agricultural research grants programs from spending a planned $135 million in FY 2000. The existing competitive grants program, the National Research Initiative, receives $119 million, the same as last year but far less than the request of $200 million. The Special Research Grants program receives $63 million, $58 million more than the request, for 142 separate grants, all but six of them to congressionally designated performers. The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) receives $903 million in FY 2000, an increase of $36 million or 4.2 percent.

· The Department of the Interior's (DOI) R&D budget declines by 0.9 percent in FY 2000 to $562 million (see Table 14). The U.S. Geological Survey receives $496 million for its R&D, 0.2 percent less than FY 1999, partially because of a major restructuring of USGS activities. Due to severe cutbacks in recent years, Interior's R&D is now nearly 30 percent less than the FY 1994 funding level in inflation-adjusted terms.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has an FY 2000 R&D budget of $645 million, $23 million or 3.5 percent less than FY 1999 but the same funding level as the request (see Table 15). In order to make room for congressionally designated projects, Congress trimmed the request for R&D projects in the Climate Change Technology Initiative and other R&D programs.

· The Department of Transportation's (DOT) R&D budget of $643 million (up 6.7 percent or $40 million) is a small part of the total DOT budget (see Table 13). Because of a multi-year reauthorization of transportation programs in May 1998 that significantly boosted funding for highways and other surface transportation programs, the total DOT budget climbs $2.1 billion to $50.1 billion; DOT R&D shares in these gains.