Highlights
- The House would once again
reject the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) proposal to reorganize
its budget to fully report all costs associated with its R&D portfolio,
including support and personnel costs.
- VA federal R&D would total $786 million in FY 2006 in the House plan
(see Table), the same as the request and
up slightly by 0.3 percent from this year’s budget.
VA R&D in FY 2006 House Appropriations
On May 26, the House of
Representatives approved its version of the FY 2006 Military Quality
of Life appropriations bill (HR 2528), the fourth of 12 appropriations
bills to win House approval. This newly-created bill funds the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) as well as military construction and medical
care programs of the Department of Defense (DOD). In previous years,
VA had been funded along with the National Science Foundation, NASA,
and EPA in the now-eliminated VA-HUD appropriations
bill while the DOD programs had been funded in the Military Construction
bill. VA R&D would barely
see a gain of $2 million or 0.3 percent, the
same as the request (see Table).
(For details of the President’s request for VA R&D, please
see Chapter 8 of AAAS Report XXX: R&D
FY 2006 or the March 3 VA R&D
Funding Update).
The Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) is one of the 10 largest R&D funding agencies in the
federal government, with the 10th largest R&D portfolio
in the FY 2006 budget request, but receives relatively little attention
because its entire R&D investment goes to its own nationwide network
of VA hospitals. VA’s Medical and Prosthetic Research is a longstanding
program of research aimed at improving health care for veterans through
research on injuries and illnesses with special relevance to veterans.
All scientists and engineers who receive VA funds must be VA employees,
and thus its entire R&D investment takes place in VA hospitals and
laboratories except for a small proportion of VA investigators who hold
joint appointments with academic institutions.
The Medical and Prosthetic Research
budget account is the core of VA’s research effort, but in the past
it has funded just over half of VA’s total R&D for support of direct
R&D costs. Investigator salaries, support costs, infrastructure,
and other costs have been funded out of other VA medical care accounts.
The FY 2006 budget proposed to consolidate all these R&D costs into
the Medical and Prosthetic Research account in a request of $786 million,
compared to a 2005 appropriation of $402 million. After adjusting the
2005 budget for support costs, the 2006 request represented a $2 million
or 0.3 percent gain (see Table).
VA has requested this consolidation
twice before, but Congress has kept funding under the old system. The
FY 2006 House appropriation follows the pattern by rejecting this consolidation
and keeping direct R&D costs only in the Medical and Prosthetic
Research account. Other costs would continue to be funded in other
VA medical care accounts, for a total of $786 million that would match
the request (see Table). The meager increase
would lead to a 2 percent cut in the number of funded projects down
to 2,655.
VA classifies its R&D program
into four major areas: biomedical laboratory science, rehabilitation research,
health services research, and clinical science. Biomedical laboratory science
is the largest category with $452 million in FY 2006 for investigator-initiated
research projects in areas with special relevance for veterans such as aging,
chronic disease, and environmental exposures. Rehabilitation research would
receive $99 million for science and technology to improve quality of life for
the disabled, such as improved prosthetics. Health services research ($120 million
in FY 2006) focuses on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of health
care services and translating research into clinical practice. Finally,
clinical science research would receive $128 million next year to fund clinical
trials and other medical research utilizing the large patient network in VA
medical facilities.
Figure 1. (click
on the image for PDF)
VA federal R&D has mostly
expanded in recent years as the overall VA budget has grown (see Figure
1). After peaking last year, VA R&D would fall in 2005 and 2006
because of tough budgetary pressures for domestic spending. Years ago,
VA did not count support, salary, and infrastructure costs in its R&D
funding. The big jump in FY 1997 represents VA’s decision to add in
these costs beginning that year.
The Senate is expected to take up
its version of the Military Quality of Life bill in June.
-
June 3, 2005
(This analysis is one of a series of AAAS R&D Funding
Updates on FY 2006 congressional appropriations. The complete series
of AAAS R&D Funding Updates, including continually updated analyses
of R&D in FY 2006 appropriations, is available on the AAAS
R&D Web Site (http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd) in the "FY
2006 R&D" or the "What's New"
sections.)
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607; -6600
AAAS R&D
Web site: www.aaas.org/spp/rd
