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Go to: -R&D
in the FY 2008 Budget -The
FY 2008 R&D Budget in Historical Context -Highlights
of the Major R&D Funding Agencies -Budget
Context and Outlook -Table
1. R&D in the FY 2008 Budget by Agency
-Table
2. Research in the FY 2008 Budget -Table
3. Major Functional Categories of R&D -
Table 4. Homeland Security R&D -
Table 5. R&D by Appropriations Subcommittee -
Table 6. Interagency Science and Technology Initiatives
PDF version
of this document Detailed
agency updates: U.S.
Department of Agriculture Department
of Commerce Department of
Defense 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 and HHS National
Science Foundation Supplemental
Tables and Full-Color Charts (PDF) -Table.
Total R&D by Agency (revised 4/07)
-Table.
Basic Research by Agency (revised 4/07)
-Table.
Applied Research by Agency (revised 4/07)
-Table.
Research in the FY 2008 Budget (revised 4/07)
-Table.
Development by Agency (revised 4/07)
-Table.
Conduct of R&D by Agency (revised4/07)
-Table.
R&D Facilities and Capital Equipment by Agency (revised 4/07) -Historical
Table 1. R&D by Agency, 1976-2008 (revised 4/07)
-Historical
Table 2. R&D by Agency, 1976-2008 in Constant Dollars (revised 4/07) -Chart.
Trends in Federal R&D, 1976-2008 (revised 4/07)- Data
Table
-Chart. Trends in Federal R&D by character
of work, 1976-2008 (revised 4/07)
- Chart.
Trends in Federal R&D as % of GDP, FY 1976-2008 (revised 4/07) - Data
Table
-Chart. Selected Trends in Nondefense
R&D, 1976-2008 (revised 4/07)
-Chart. Trends
in Research by Agency, 1976-2008 (revised 4/07) - Data
Table
-Chart. Trends in Basic Research,
1976-2008 (revised 4/07)- Data Table
-Chart.
Trends in Defense R&D, 1976-2008 (revised 3/07) - Data
Table
-Chart. Trends in DOD S&T, 1994-2008
(revised 2/07) - Data Table
-Chart.
Trends in Federal R&D, FY 1995-2008 (DOD, NIH, NSF, DOE, NASA, USDA) (revised
4/07)
-Chart. Trends in Federal R&D, FY 1995-2008
(DOC, DOI, DOT, EPA)(revised 4/07)
-Chart.
Trends in DOE Office of Science, 1987-2008 (revised 3/07) - Data
Table
-Chart. Defense and
Nondefense R&D, 1949-2008 (2/07) - Data Table
-Chart. Nondefense R&D by Function, 1953-2008 (2/07)
- Data Table |
(This AAAS analysis updates previous analyses of R&D
in the FY 2008 budget. It contains revised AAAS estimates of R&D, based
on agency data obtained after the release of the President's budget and the latest
estimates of FY 2007 appropriations. This analysis is a preview of AAAS
Report XXXII: R&D FY 2008, a comprehensive look at the President's
budget for R&D in FY 2008. The full report will be released at the AAAS
Forum on Science and Technology Policy (May 3-4, Washington
DC) and is available for purchase online. More
tables, the full text of the report, continually updated supplemental materials
on R&D in the FY 2008 budget, and information on the Forum can be found on
the AAAS R&D web site at www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
On February 5, 2007, President
Bush released his proposed budget for fiscal year (FY) 2008. The new budget continues
old themes from previous budgets: large proposed increases for the three physical
sciences agencies in the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), increases
for weapons development and human spacecraft development, and declining funding
for the rest of the federal research and development (R&D) portfolio. Within
an overall budget that once again proposes to restrain domestic spending but dramatically
increase defense spending, many agencies such as the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) would see their R&D funding fall. The overall federal investment in
R&D would increase to $143.0 billion, a 1.3 percent increase over the final
total for the recently completed FY 2007 budget, but development funding would
take up the entire increase and more. The federal investment in basic and applied
research would fall 2.1 percent from the 2007 total to $55.5 billion in 2008 as
gains in the ACI agencies would be more than offset by cuts in other agencies’
research funding. In real terms, the federal research investment would fall for
the fourth year in a row after peaking in 2004. The 2008 budget goes to a new Democratic majority
in the 110th Congress, fresh from finalizing 2007 appropriations left
unfinished by the previous Congress and eager to put its own stamp on federal
spending. In May, Congress is expected to finalize its own 2008 budget plan and
then begin the task of setting program-by-program funding levels in the 2008 appropriations
bills.
R&D in the FY 2008 Budget:
Gains for Weapons, Spacecraft, and the Physical Sciences, Cuts for Others
(Chapter references are to chapters in AAAS Report
XXXII: R&D FY 2008) In
its broad outlines, President Bush’s proposed budget for FY 2008 once again offers
the same themes as in previous years: big increases for defense and homeland security,
trims in some entitlement programs, extensions of expiring tax cuts, and a promise
to reduce the budget deficit primarily by cutting domestic discretionary spending.
Unlike last year, when the ACI made its debut, there are no new R&D initiatives
in the budget but rather a sustained commitment to increasing funding for the
three favored agencies of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department
of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) laboratories in Commerce. The three research-oriented ACI agencies
lead the pack in R&D gains (see Figure 1), followed closely by proposed gains
for development programs in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) and the Department of Defense (DOD; see Figure 1). But within a declining
domestic budget, there would be stark contrasts between these priority programs
and everything else: nearly all other nondefense R&D programs would face cuts, and defense
research would also fall steeply.
Most federal agencies
prepared their 2008 budgets this January and earlier based on temporary funding
levels contained in a continuing resolution (CR) that expired on February 15.
On that day, President Bush signed into law the final 2007 joint funding resolution
that had cleared Congress a day earlier (Public Law 110-5). The resolution boosts
funding for key R&D agencies, including NIH and the ACI agencies. As a result,
the 2007 funding baseline for many agencies shifted dramatically after the February
5 release of the 2008 budget. (The FY 2007 figures and FY 2007-08 comparisons
are based on revised AAAS estimates of R&D in final FY 2007 appropriations.
In many cases, the revisions result in funding trends that differ significantly
from funding trends in the President’s budget documents.) 
Figure
1. (click on the image for PDF) - The proposed federal R&D portfolio in FY 2008 is $143.0 billion,
1.3 percent or $1.9 billion above this year (see Chapter
1 of the report and Table 1). In real terms, the
total federal R&D portfolio would decline for the first time since 1996. Once
again, development funding would see strong gains: increases for space vehicles
development in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA; total
R&D up 6.7 percent) and weapons development in the Department of Defense (DOD;
up 5.5 percent to $68.1 billion) would far exceed the overall increase, leaving
all other R&D programs with less money. -
Total federal support of research (basic and applied) would fall 2.1 percent
to $55.5 billion, even after large proposed increases for physical sciences and
related research in NSF, DOE’s Office of Science, and
NIST (see Table 2). A rare cut in NIH research
funding and steep cuts in research funding at DOD, NASA, USDA, and other agencies
would more than offset the ACI gains. In real terms, federal research spending
would fall for the fourth year in a row, down 7.4 percent from 2004 (see Chapter
2). -
The three American Competitiveness Initiative agencies would be the clear winners
among domestic programs. There would be significant increases for R&D
in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science (up 15.4 percent to $4.1
billion; see Table 1 and Chapter
8 of the report), the National Science Foundation (NSF; up 8.3 percent to
$4.9 billion; see Chapter 6), and the National Institute
of Standards and Technology’s intramural research (up 12.8 percent to $420 million;
see Chapter 12). -
NASA R&D would climb to fund the development of new human spacecraft to
replace the Space Shuttle. NASA R&D would total $12.6 billion (up 6.7
percent), but the entire increase would go to two big projects: finishing the
International Space Station and developing the Crew Launch Vehicle / Crew Exploration
Vehicle combination. As a result, NASA support of research in the physical sciences,
environmental sciences, aeronautics, and other disciplines would fall again (see
Table 1 and Chapter 9). -
But other R&D funding agencies would see flat funding or cuts. The
National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget would fall in 2008. NIH received
a surprise $600 million boost in the 2007 joint funding resolution above what
it had been expecting, but the additional 2007 money means the $28.8 billion NIH
request for 2008 would be a cut instead of an increase. NIH R&D would fall
$333 million or 1.2 percent (see Chapter 7 and Table
1). The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would see its R&D funding
fall 10.8 percent to $2.0 billion (see Chapter 10).
Even the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a past favorite, would see its
R&D funding slide to $996 million (see Chapter 11).
- Nondefense R&D would increase 1.9 percent to $60.1 billion, far better than
the flat funding requested for all nondefense discretionary
programs and just short of the 2.4 percent expected inflation rate (see Table
1). Boosts for the ACI and space vehicles development help to offset requested
cuts in other nondefense R&D programs, but even
increases in these areas are not enough to keep the nondefense portfolio from falling behind inflation for the
fourth year in a row (see Chapter 2). -
Defense R&D continues to climb to record levels in wartime, boosted by additional
billions for development in both 2007 and 2008 as part of war-related supplemental
requests. Total defense R&D would reach $83.0 billion in 2008 (including $2.9
billion in a war supplemental), up 0.9 percent over an FY 2007 total that also
includes supplemental funding that has been requested but not yet appropriated
for the current year. Department of Defense (DOD) weapons systems development
would increase dramatically by $3.5 billion or 5.5 percent to a new high of $68.1
billion (see Figure 1), but once again there would be steep cuts in DOD’s S&T
(DOD “6.1” through “6.3” plus medical research) programs. DOD S&T would plummet
20.1 percent down to $10.9 billion, with cuts in all three categories of basic
research, applied research, and technology development (see Chapter
5 for DOD details). -
The FY 2008 budget would make significant cuts to education, including the proposed
termination of 44 Department of Education (ED) programs and a restructuring of
others (see Chapter 4). -
President Bush’s FY 2008 budget goes to a Democratic-majority Congress, where
the R&D requests will go through a newly reorganized appropriations process.
Democratic appropriators have reorganized appropriations jurisdictions into 11
bills, 10 of which fund some R&D (see Table 5).
As in the past, 95 percent of the federal R&D portfolio will be appropriated
through 4 appropriations bills. The 110th Congress will also attempt
to pass innovation-related legislation this session to tackle the same concerns
the President’s ACI tries to address, and will also draft legislation on climate
change, energy security, and stem cell research (see Chapter
3). - Despite increasing attention to climate change and possible policy measures
to address it, federal spending on climate change science is falling (see Table
6). Climate Change Science Program (CCSP)
funding would decline 7.4 percent to $1.5 billion in 2008, falling steeply for
the fourth year in a row from nearly $2 billion in 2004. Although climate change
funding in most participating agencies remains stable, steep cuts in recent years
to NASA research (the largest sponsor of climate change science) have resulted
in a diminishing overall federal effort. Among other multi-agency R&D initiatives,
funding for the Networking and Information Technology R&D
initiative would level off at $3.1 billion. The National Nanotechnology Initiative would benefit from ACI increases for leading
members NSF and DOE Office of Science to reach $1.4 billion (up 3.8 percent).
(For more on the NNI, see Chapter 23; for more
on NITRD, see Chapter 22; for more on CCSP, see Chapter
15.) -
Good news would be mixed with bad even for the physical sciences. In FY 2008,
the ACI agencies would boost funding for physics (see Chapter
13), astronomy (see Chapter 14), and chemistry (see
Chapter 18), but other agencies would reduce their funding.
Support for the mathematical sciences (see Chapter 21)
would be strong. But funding for other disciplines such as the social and behavioral
sciences (see Chapter 19), the non-biomedical life and
biological sciences (see Chapter 17), and the earth
sciences (see Chapter 16) would mostly decline. 
Figure
2. (click on the image for PDF)
-
The Administration priorities of defense development, space exploration, and basic
physical sciences research show up clearly in the federal R&D portfolio by
mission (see Table 3 and Chapter
1). The priority missions would all receive large increases, while R&D
for other national missions would fall sharply. Space-related R&D would gain
8.4 percent to $12.0 billion, entirely from gains in development funding of new
space vehicles instead of the broader space R&D portfolio. Proposed ACI boosts
to the DOE Office of Science and NSF make up the 11.4 percent gain for general
science R&D to $8.9 billion, while the NIST labs’ increase would boost commerce
R&D by 5.2 percent. But R&D for other national missions including agriculture
(down 12 percent), transportation (down 8 percent), energy (down 8 percent) and
the environment (down 5 percent) would all fall in a tight budget. Even health
R&D, usually on the positive side, would fall 1.1 percent down to $30.1 billion
because of cuts at NIH. -
Federal homeland security-related R&D would total $4.9 billion in FY
2008, a gain of $212 million or 4.5 percent after a dramatic slide in 2007
due mainly to steep cuts in the DHS R&D portfolio (see Table
4). The majority of the multi-agency portfolio remains outside the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS), with the largest part in the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) for its biodefense research portfolio.
NIH’s portfolio, mostly in the National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), would total $1.8 billion in FY 2008 (down 0.7
percent). DHS R&D would continue to decline. (See Chapter
1 for details of homeland security R&D; see Chapter
11 for DHS information.) The FY 2008 R&D Budget in Historical Context: Another Year of Decline Although
high-priority investments in weapons development, human space exploration, and
physical sciences research help to keep the federal R&D outlook brighter than
the bleak outlook for domestic programs overall, the FY 2008 budget continues
the recent trends of declining federal support for research amid increasing support
for weapons systems development. (See Table I-11 of
the report for historical data. More historical data are available on the AAAS
R&D web site.) The
federal investment in basic and applied research would fall for the fourth year
in a row in real terms (see Figure 3) if the FY 2008 budget is enacted. The
2008 budget would leave the federal research portfolio 7.4 percent below the 2004
level in inflation-adjusted dollars. Federal research did very well between 1998
and 2003 because of the campaign to double the budget of NIH, the largest federal
supporter of research. Other agencies also increased their research investments
in that time period because a string of budget surpluses freed up resources for
domestic appropriations. But with the return of budget deficits in 2002 followed
by restraints on domestic spending thereafter, growth in research funding for
NIH and other domestic agencies slowed in 2004 and then reversed. At the same
time, DOD research support lagged as the Pentagon went to war in 2003 and shifted
resources away from research toward near-term projects, and NASA research fell
even within a stable R&D budget as it shifted resources from research first
to returning the Space Shuttle to flight and then toward developing the Shuttle’s
replacement. 
Figure 3. (click on the image for
PDF)
Federal
research investments are shrinking as a share of the U.S. economy, just as other
nations are increasing their investments. As shown in Figure 4, the federal
R&D investment exceeded 1 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) until
recently, buoyed by big increases in weapons development, but is now declining
sharply. Federal investments in development, mostly in DOD, have held steady as
a share of the economy, but the federal research/GDP ratio is in free fall down
to a projected 0.38 percent in 2008, below the long-term historical average of
0.4 percent after gains in the late 1990s. Despite an increasingly technology-based
economy and a growing recognition among policymakers that federal research investments
are the seed corn for future technology-based innovations, the U.S.
government research investment has failed to match the new realities and has also
failed to match the competition. Asian nations are dramatically increasing their
government research investments: both China
and South Korea,
for example, are boosting government research by 10 percent or more annually.
(For more on historical trends in federal R&D,
see Chapter 2. For more international comparisons of R&D, see Chapter 1.) 
Figure 4. (click on the image for
PDF) Highlights of the Major R&D Funding Agencies (Complete
coverage of the major R&D funding agencies is available in AAAS
Report XXXII: R&D FY 2008 and on the AAAS R&D web site in agency
updates. Chapter references are to the agency chapters in the report. Figures
in this analysis have been revised since the February release of the budget. The
FY 2007 estimates for most agencies have been adjusted to reflect the latest AAAS
estimates of R&D in the final 2007 appropriations, and therefore differ from
figures presented in the President’s budget.) -
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget
would fall $329 million or 1.1 percent to $28.8 billion from the recently finalized
2007 budget, but the cut becomes $529 million after adjusting for an additional
transfer out of the agency. NIH R&D would fall 1.2 percent to $28.1 billion
(see Table 1). Most NIH institutes and centers (ICs)
would see their budgets remain flat for the fourth year in a row, with no allowance
for inflation, but in 2007 ICs would be freed of their obligation to transfer
1.2 percent of their budgets to the NIH-wide Roadmap for Medical Research so they
would have a small 2007 increase. But in the 2008 budget they would once again
transfer 1.3 percent of their budgets to the Roadmap, resulting in a 1.3 percent
cut for most. The Office of the Director (OD) budget balloons to $1.1 billion
in 2007 to centralize Roadmap funding, but would fall to $517 million in 2008.
The overall Roadmap would total $486 million, up slightly from 2007. After adjusting
for economy-wide inflation, the 2008 NIH budget would be 7.6 percent below the
2004 peak (see Figure 5), but based on NIH’s own calculation
of biomedical research inflation the loss would be 12 percent. Because of an unusually
large number of existing grants ending, NIH expects to offer more than 10,000
new research grants in 2008 for the first time since 2004, but at the cost of
canceling inflationary adjustments for existing research grants and cutting other
programs such as intramural research and training funds. (See Chapter
7 for NIH details.) 
Figure 5. (click on the image for
PDF)
- The
National Science Foundation (NSF) benefits from the Administration’s American Competitiveness Initiative with
an 8.7 percent boost in its total budget to $6.4 billion in 2008, after a similar
boost in 2007. Most research directorates would receive increases between 4 percent
and 9 percent for the second year in a row after two years of decline before then.
In real terms, funding for the Geosciences and Biological Sciences directorates
would remain below 2004 funding levels even after the 2007 and 2008 increases,
while the computer sciences, social sciences, mathematics and physical sciences,
polar, and engineering directorates would all reach new highs. NSF’s R&D investments
would total $4.9 billion, an 8.3 percent increase that would be an all-time high
(see Figure 5 and Chapter 6). - The Department of Defense (DOD) R&D investment continues to grow, with a proposed increase of $765 million to
$79.0 billion. DOD weapons development would increase dramatically by 5.5
percent or $3.5 billion to an all-time high of $68.1 billion, including $2.9 billion
in development funds requested as part of a 2008 war supplemental. The Air Force
would get the bulk of the new money, an additional $3.5 billion for an unprecedented
R&D budget of $28.1 billion in 2008. But as in past years, the big proposed
increases for development are matched by steep cuts to DOD’s future-oriented investments:
“Science and Technology” (S&T), which includes research, medical research,
and technology development, would fall 20.1 percent to $10.9 billion, erasing
seven years of gains (see Table 1 and Figure 5). Within
S&T, basic research (“6.1”) funding would fall 8.7 percent, while applied
research (“6.2”) would fall 18 percent, mostly but not entirely due to the proposed
elimination of earmarks. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
would do relatively well among research-oriented programs with a request of $3.1
billion, down slightly from this year’s budget. (See Chapter
5 for DOD details.) -
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
suffers a setback in 2007 but looks to rebound
with a $1.1 billion requested increase in 2008 over the 2007 final appropriation.
The $17.3 billion 2008 request would be a 6.5 percent increase, of which $12.6
billion would go for R&D activities (up 6.7 percent; see Table
1). The Constellation Systems program to develop the new Crew Exploration
Vehicle and the Crew Launch Vehicle would increase 10 percent from the 2007 funding
level to $3.1 billion to eat up most of the R&D increase. Construction of
the International Space Station, now in full gear with the return of the Space
Shuttle to flight, would require $2.2 billion next year, up $503 million from
this year. Increases for these two big-ticket programs would leave NASA’s research-oriented
programs in decline. Although NASA would protect the Science program of earth-sun
science, earth observing, astronomy, and robotic missions from cuts (up 2.4 percent
to $5.5 billion), aeronautics research would plummet 20 percent down to $554 million.
Because NASA R&D funding has remained constant in real terms for more than
a decade (see Figure 5), big increases in development funding to fulfill the Vision
for Space Exploration of returning humans to the moon before going to Mars have
cut into NASA’s traditional research programs in recent years. (See Chapter
9 for NASA details.) -
The Department of Energy (DOE) R&D portfolio
would climb 5.7 percent to $9.2 billion because of continuing Administration support
for DOE’s Office of Science (OS) as part of the American Competitiveness
Initiative (ACI). DOE Science would once again be the clear winner in the budget
with a 15.4 percent proposed increase to $4.1 billion over the 2007 final budget
for its R&D portfolio centered around the physical
sciences (see Figure 1). OS programs should all receive substantial increases
for the second year to hit historic highs (see Figure 5). Fusion research would
total $428 million, up a third, as the U.S.
boosts its contribution to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
(ITER) project from $60 million to $160 million next year. Basic Energy Sciences
(BES) would dominate the OS portfolio with $1.5 billion, up 20 percent, to operate
the new Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and to boost
its support of basic research at other national laboratories. DOE’s
energy R&D would total $1.4 billion, a cut from 2007 because of a surprise
last-minute infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars in the 2007 funding resolution.
DOE R&D investments in renewables such as hydrogen,
biomass, and solar energy would be up dramatically from two years ago. But DOE
once again proposes to eliminate R&D on gas and oil technologies and some
renewable energy technologies, and proposes to cancel $50 million in mandatory
funding for a deepwater oil and gas exploration R&D program. (See Chapter
8 for DOE details.) -
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) R&D
portfolio fell sharply in 2007 because of rising congressional dissatisfaction
with the department’s R&D efforts, and would edge down another 0.8 percent
to $996 million in 2008, even as overall DHS spending would increase. While research
on radiological and countermeasures would continue to climb (up 17 percent to
$320 million) in the newly separate Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO),
R&D in the main Science and Technology Directorate would fall steeply for
the second year. University Programs funding would fall again down to $39 million,
down a third in two years. DHS would support 11 university-based centers by 2008.
(See Chapter 11 for more on DHS.) -
R&D in the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) would fall 10.8 percent from the 2007 final appropriation to $2.0
billion, mostly from proposed cuts in intramural research (see Figure 5). On the
extramural side, the National Research Initiative (NRI) of competitively awarded
research grants would increase $66 million to a record $257 million, although
similar proposed increases in past years have not made it through Congress. Hatch
Act funding falls from an unexpectedly large $323 million 2007 appropriation down
below historical levels to $164 million; although funding is traditionally distributed
by formula, a quarter of the 2008 funds could be awarded competitively. (See Chapter
10 for USDA details.) -
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories in the
Department of Commerce would benefit from the
ACI. NIST intramural research would climb 12.8 percent to $420 million, while
construction funding for NIST research facilities would jump 60 percent to $94
million. The Bush Administration once again proposes to eliminate NIST’s
extramural Advanced Technology Program (ATP). The ATP had a budget of $79 million
in FY 2006 and recently won the same amount for 2007, allowing it to offer new
grants for the first time in years. In another repeat of previous requests, the
budget would cut the non-R&D Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership
by 56 percent down to $46 million. Total NIST R&D would increase 4.7 percent
to $514 million. Also in Commerce, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) R&D would fall by 9.5 percent
to $544 million, despite requested increases for selected ocean research programs.
(See Chapter 12 for Commerce details.) -
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would
maintain a flat R&D budget of $822 million in FY 2008, but planned funding
from other sources would bring total VA-performed R&D to $1.8 billion (see
Chapter 12). -
R&D in the Department of the Interior
would fall 2.9 percent to $621 million, with a similar 4.0 percent cut
to $547 million for R&D in Interior’s lead science agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The cuts would,
as in previous requests, be concentrated in USGS’ mineral resources and water
resources R&D, with modest increases or flat funding for other R&D priorities.
The FY 2008 cut to Interior R&D would mark the seventh year out of the last
eight that Interior R&D has lost ground to inflation (see Chapter
12). -
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
R&D portfolio of $540 million would be a 3.1 percent cut from the final
2007 funding level, with cuts to most research areas. EPA R&D funding would
fall to the lowest level in more than two decades in real terms (see Chapter
12). - Department of Transportation (DOT)
R&D funding would increase 2.4 percent to $813 million because of requested
cuts in aviation R&D combined with increases for highway R&D (see Chapter
12). Budget
Context and Outlook For
the first time, this budget from President Bush goes to a Democratic Congress.
But Congress is still dealing with the 2007 budget even as it tries to hammer
out a final congressional 2008 budget plan. Although Congress finalized regular
2007 appropriations in a mid-February joint funding resolution, lawmakers are
still wrestling with a $100+ billion 2007 supplemental request, primarily to pay
for ongoing wars. Debates over the supplemental have delayed consideration of
the 2008 budget. The Democratic majority has already signaled that the President’s
request for domestic appropriations, which amount to flat funding after taking
out homeland security money, is inadequate. Both the House and the Senate have
added more than $20 billion above the President’s request for domestic programs
in their respective versions of the congressional budget resolution; if these
additional funds make it into the final budget resolution currently under negotiation,
then the Appropriations Committees will have a lot of flexibility to add money
to individual domestic programs later in the year. Based on their actions in the
2007 funding resolution, which added money to the ACI agencies, NIH, and other
R&D programs, Democratic appropriators appear poised to support the ACI increases
in 2008 and to use to add money to requested cuts in NIH and other R&D programs.
As a result, the funding outlook for federal R&D is likely to improve as the
year goes on. But unless Congress makes dramatic changes in the current trend
of flat to declining domestic spending, the downward slide in federal support
of research is unlikely to reverse, even if a select few programs buck the trend
with increases. -
April 23, 2007
(More materials on R&D in the
FY 2008 budget, historical data and charts, ordering information for AAAS Report XXXII:
Research and Development FY 2008, and the full
text of the report can be found on the AAAS
R&D Web site at www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington,
DC 20005
(202) 326-6607
science_policy@aaas.org
http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd Go
to Tables 1-6 . |
