Science News - February 27, 2010

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President proposes higher levels
of science spending in fiscal 2011

By Rachel Ehrenberg

Given the economy, research societies seemed pleased that the Obama administration plans on giving to science. The president’s budget for fiscal 2011, released February 1, proposes $147.7 billion for federal spending on research and development. Of that, nondefense-related funding would be $66 billion, a 5. 9 percent increase over what was allocated in 2010. Some programs, such as the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility and NASA’s Constellation program, met an early death in the budget. Most agencies would see modest increases.

“Given that there’s an overall freeze,
you had to hope that the president was
going to be true to his promise to use
a scalpel rather than a hatchet,” says
Albert Teich, director of science and pol-
icy programs at the American Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science in
Washington, D.C. “That seems to be the
case. Within the budget, science seems
to be treated pretty well.”
Proposed Department of Energy
initiatives include more than $108 mil-
lion for research on renewable energy
sources. About $174 million would fund
research intended to improve the reliabil-
ity, efficiency and security — including
cybersecurity — of the nation’s electrical
transmission and distribution networks.

FY 2009 FY 2010

U.S. agency or department actual estimate

defense (military only)* 81,121 81,090 NIH (and other HHS R&d) 41,658 31,177 Energy 13,268 10,693 NASA 11,677 9,286 NSF 7,576 5,092 Agriculture 2,613 2,591 Commerce 1,969 1,516 Homeland Security 1,096 1,150 Interior 775 755 EPA 559 622 Other Agencies and departments 3,159 3,381 TOTAL 165,471 147,353

Figures reflect rounding, Fy 2009 column includes one-time Recovery Act funds † difference between 2010 and 2011, adjusted for 1. 1 percent expected rate of inflation *Other agency budgets include some defense-related, nonmilitary projects

Federal research and development funding

Proposed fiscal year 2011 budget by agency, in millions of dollars SOURCE: AdAPTEd FROM OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT ANd BUdGET

FY 2011 Percent proposed change† 77,548 - 5. 4 32,156 2.0 11,219 3. 8 10,986 17.0 5,571 8. 2 2,448 - 6. 5 1,727 12. 7 1,046 - 10.0 772 1. 1 651 3. 5 3,572 4. 5 147,696 -0.9  Increase  Decrease

briefing. Recovery Act funding is not included in the proposed 2011 budget.

NASA’s budget will go up by $6 billion over the next five years under the plan. The plan earmarks an extra $183 million to extend the life of the International Space Station past its planned retirement date of 2016 and allots $5 billion for space and Earth science research, including grants, telescopes and missions to study the moon and Mars.

The biggest shake-up was the cancellation of the Constellation program, which was to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 and has already cost some $9 billion over the past four years. An independent panel found that the program was behind schedule and underfunded.

NASA will instead focus on developing new “game-changing” technologies to take humans beyond low-Earth orbit by increasing cooperation with and reliance on commercial space companies.

The proposed budget would expand the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s spending on programs addressing climate change and promoting clean energy. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson noted that the largest increase in her agency’s research budget would bump up spending on Science to Achieve Results research grants to $87 million, an increase of more than 40 percent. EPA is also slated to receive $26 million to study hormone-mimicking pollutants and other chemicals, $6 million more than this year.

The National Science Foundation budget would increase by some 8 percent, adjusted for inflation, in 2011. In addition to spending on basic research, NSF supports education and training programs.

The 2011 fiscal year starts on October 1. Congress will decide what the final budget will include.

“The administration’s taken a pretty positive approach towards science and technology,” says Teich. “We have to hope that Congress does the same thing.”