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The 107th Congress and President George W.
Bush agreed to provide record increases for R&D programs throughout
the federal government, and provided substantial increases to nearly all
categories of R&D spending and most R&D funding agencies.
- The federal investment in research and development (R&D) exceeds
$100 billion for the first time. Federal R&D in FY 2002 totals $103.7
billion, a $12.3 billion or 13.5 percent increase over FY 2001 that
is the largest dollar increase in history and the largest percentage
increase in nearly 20 years (see Table 1).
- There are substantial increases for all the major federal R&D
agencies, in contrast to proposed cuts for most agencies in the Bush
Administration's April budget request (see Table
1). The largest dollar and percentage increases go to the two largest
R&D funding agencies, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), reflecting the high priority placed on defense
and health by the Bush Administration and Congress.
- There are large increases for basic and applied research in FY 2002,
especially in NIH. The total federal investment in research is $48.2
billion, an increase of 11.0 percent or $4.8 billion over FY 2001 (see
Table 2). NIH remains the largest single
sponsor of basic and applied research; in FY 2002, NIH alone will fund
46 percent of all federal support of research. All federal agencies
receive increases for their research portfolios, especially agencies
with defense or counter-terrorism research programs.
- In response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, terrorism-related
R&D nearly triples over last year to $1.5 billion (see Table
A and Figure 2). Federal counter-terrorism R&D totals $1.5 billion
in FY 2002 (up from $579 million in FY 2001), roughly half from regular
appropriations and half from emergency appropriations out of a $40 billion
post-September 11 emergency response fund.
- R&D for all national missions increases, with especially large
boosts for defense and health R&D (see Table
3). In defense, DOD S&T investments exceed $10 billion for the
first time to reach $10.5 billion (up 11.8 percent), while funding for
missile defense development nearly doubles. In health, the NIH budget
remains on track to double between FY 1998 and FY 2003 with a $3.1 billion
increase in R&D to $22.8 billion, but NIH and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) also receive substantial emergency funds
for bioterrorism R&D and improved laboratory facilities.
- Congress remains committed to funding R&D earmarks, congressionally
designated performer-specific R&D projects that are not part of
an agency's spending plan. R&D earmarks total $1.5 billion in FY
2002 (see Table B and Figure 3). The
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), DOD, the Department of Energy
(DOE), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
receive three-quarters of the total R&D earmarks.
- Nondefense R&D reaches another all-time high in FY 2002, the sixth
year in a row that nondefense R&D has increased in inflation-adjusted
terms (see Figure 1). A large part of the recent increases has been
due to steady growth in the NIH budget, including increases of approximately
15 percent for four years in a row. As a result, NIH R&D has become
nearly as large as all other nondefense agencies' R&D funding combined.
- The FY 2002 R&D appropriation is a record dollar increase for
defense R&D, even in inflation-adjusted terms (see Figure 1). After
nearly a decade of post-Cold War cuts, DOD R&D had been increasing
slightly for the past few years, but this year's increase represents
a decisive step back toward Cold War funding levels. DOE's defense R&D
also receives a large boost, partially from emergency counter-terrorism
R&D funds.
- The "FS&T budget" rises by 11.1 percent in FY 2002 to
$52.4 billion (see Table 1). Most of this
increase is due to a 15.7 percent increase to the total NIH budget,
although there are increases for all FS&T programs. (See Appendix
1 for details of the "FS&T Budget.")
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