Science Funding in the Final Bush Budget
The Bush Administration released its final budget request today. It includes significant cuts to the budgets for the Centers for Disease Control, stagnant funding for the National Institutes of Health, and moderate boosts to the Department of Energy. Individual issue groups will churn through the budget over the next few days, offering their take on funding priorities, and on Thursday, the AAAS will release its comprehensive analysis of scientific R&D funding. Some initial highlights in the news:
Centers for Disease Control: Total funding request is $8.8 billion, $412.1 million less than the agency got last year (Reuters).
Department of Energy: Funding request at approximately $25 billion, up nearly 5 percent from 2008; “funding for science programs rose 19 percent to $4.7 billion” (Reuters).
Environmental Protection Agency: Saddled with $400 million cut from fiscal 2008, from an estimated $7.5 billion to $7.1 billion (Greenwire: subscription).
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration: Proposed $4.1 billion budget “would boost funding for environmental satellites, the National Weather Service and fisheries programs” (Greenwire: subscription).
National Institutes of Health: No major increase: “$29.3 billion but…larger increases for smaller science accounts” (Politico).
National Science Foundation: A substantial increase: “$6.85 billion, a 14 percent increase of $821 million” (Politico).
National Institute of Standards and Technology: A scientific research funding increase of 21 percent (Politico).
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Total funding increase of $482 million, “but funding dedicated to science programs appears to be reduced” (Politico).
Comments on this article
By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the Science Progress Privacy Policy and agree to the Science Progress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
