Federal R&D in the FY 2009 Budget - AAAS Analysis

I heard about the report on the the latest Science Mag Podcast.

Some general notes:
-NIH budget will see a 0% increase
-NSF budget will see a 15% increase
-There is a significant increase in funding to the Department of Energy (up 21%)
-Support of research (basic and applied) would fall 0.3%. According to AAAS:

In real terms, the federal research portfolio would fall for the fifth year in a row, down 9.1 percent from 2004.

But now things may be changing due to new legislation introduced in the Senate.

From the podcast, here's what Science Magazine's Deputy Editor Barbara Jasny had to say:

The two branches of Congress recently passed separate versions of a more than $180
billion supplemental appropriations bill, in hopes of reaching a compromise in June.
The Senate's version would give the National Institutes of Health $400 million, which
could mean 700 additional research grants. In addition, the Department Of Energy's
Office of Science would receive $55 million for Fusion Energy Sciences and $45 million
for High Energy Physics. This would enable the United States to rejoin the international
fusion project, ITER, and help with some of the immediate funding problems at Fermilab.

The Senate also allocated $150 million for basic research activities at the National
Science Foundation, and an additional $50 million for math and science education
programs. NASA was given $200 million to replenish accounts drained for the Space
Shuttle's return to flight, and finally, the Food and Drug Administration received $275
million, mainly for improving food and drug safety.

But the House version of the bill does not include funds for any of these programs. In
addition, the President has threatened to veto the supplemental funding bill if it contains any extraneous funds for domestic programs. So, the outcome is far from certain.

More like this

My money is on there being no 2009 appropriations bills, and another continuing resolution. So I don't any of this maneuvering means anything, and if research funding is going to increase over 2008, it is going to come via negotiations in relation to the continuing resolution itself.

I am not an expert on the legislative appropriations process, but I suppose it is possible that the negotiations and arguments and agreements that do get made in relation to 2009 refular appropriations bills would carry some weight in the legislative process of a continuing resolution.

-NSF budget will see a 15% increase
-There is a significant increase in funding to the Department of Energy (up 21%)

Those generalities don't mean much, particularly give as percentages. Consider the different functions of those agencies and the relatives sizes of their present budgets.

NSF, 2008 appropriation: $6 billion
DOE, 2008 request: $24 billion

So, the White House budget for NSF would put them up 15%, which is $900 million (much of it pass-throughs).

And the budget for DOE would put them up 21%, which is over $5 billion.

In other words, basic research once again gets the shaft.