D Falls in FY 2000 Budget Proposal

President Bill Clinton's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) emphasized technology over science during the unveiling of the president's fiscal year (FY) 2000 budget request Feb. 1. The administration requested $78.42 billion for total civilian and military R&D--over $1 billion less than for FY1999. If Congress strictly adheres to that request next fall, most agencies that fund science would see their budgets at or below this year's level, after accounting for inflation. The two largest R&D fund providers--the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense (DOD)--would get hit hardest in real-dollar terms. Meanwhile, a heavily promoted administration initiative aims to take $366 million from six agencies and apply it toward developing faster computers, wireless networks, and new computer languages that would help scientists of all disciplines crunch data quicker, perhaps allowing for better modeling and simulation software. Vice President Al Gore first announced the program, named IT2, at the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences annual meeting in Anaheim last month. Following his speech, several administration officials described it in more detail during a media briefing. Rita Colwell More recently, at a Feb. 1 OSTP-sponsored media conference, agency representatives present--even those facing less-than-rosy R&D prospects--took pains to describe how IT2 would help their departments' research programs. That program comes in addition to the existing $1.5 billion High Performance Computing and Communications program. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson noted that such advances could help biomedical research by speeding up drug development and environmental science by allowing for higher-resolution mapping and more complex models. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrator Daniel Goldin, too, emphasized that the initiative will help design more intentional robots, necessary for more distant unmanned space exploration, such as a plane that could skim the surface of Mars. "Everything we want to accomplish requires additional information technology." Rita Colwell, National Science Foundation (NSF) director, noted that faster computers and better software are necessary to store, manipulate, and analyze the increasing amounts of genomic information: "In genomics especially ... we'll see a very quick return on our research investment." Neal Lane Neal Lane, OSTP director, acknowledged that the balanced budget agreement and President Clinton's commitment to use most of any federal budget surplus for social security meant less money available overall for science. "This has been a tough year to put together the [R&D] budget," Lane commented. And this budget's future remains uncertain, since Republicans have already claimed the entire $1.77 trillion FY2000 package for the many new programs the president detailed during his State of the Union Address. Instead of programs, Republicans have requested tax cuts, Lane acknowledged, too. The following are budgetary highlights, by department: The proposal would slash the DOD R&D budget by $2 billion, or about 6 percent before inflation. Of the total $35 billion total, $100 million will go toward IT2. DOD would also provide less money after inflation to universities for both basic and applied peer-review research in FY2000. University grants for research total $1.113 billion for FY2000; that category was set at $1.108 billion in FY1999. Applied grants for universities dip from $3.15 billion in FY1999 to $2.96 billion in FY2000. Many biomedical research advocates thought that NIH was on the path to doubling its budget in five years after it received a 15 percent increase in FY1999. The president's FY2000 request of $15.93 billion--a 2 percent increase, barely enough to account for inflation--could jeopardize that goal. However, even prior to the president's budget announcement, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) announced that the organization will continue seeking that goal, despite the anticipated unfavorable administration budget. FASEB spokesman Howard Garrison noted that the pressure of advocacy groups could result in raising budget cap levels and ultimately provide NIH with more money. Some members of Congress have already quietly raised the issue of budget caps. The NIH has historically enjoyed "broad bipartisan support" in Congress, Lane agreed, adding that once Congress starts debating the individual appropriations bills, "there will likely be trade-offs." In the past several years, Congress has delivered NIH budgets significantly higher than the presidential request. NASA will see its overall R&D total increase by 1 percent to $9.77 billion in FY2000, not enough to cover inflation. The budget also calls for $2.48 billion for the international space station, up 4 percent from FY1999. NASA's life science research program will also drop from $264 million in FY1999 to $256 million in FY2000. NASA will also contribute $38 million to IT2. The DOE will see a slight increase over inflation, from $7.24 billion in FY1999 to $7.465 in FY2000. About a third of that increase will go toward IT2. Basic science programs funded by DOE will also rise from $2.69 billion in FY1999 to $2.84 billion, a 6 percent increase, before inflation. The NSF would see an 8 percent raise, before inflation, from $2.72 billion in FY1999 to $2.93 billion in FY2000. However, $146 million of that increase is slated for IT2, for which NSF has been designated the lead agency. The agency is also launching a $7.5 million program to put graduate students in K-12 classrooms. The USDA will see its R&D total drop 4 percent before inflation, from $1.796 billion in FY1999 to $1.72 billion in FY2000. The Agricultural Research Services, USDA's in-house research arm, will see a raise from $809 million in FY1999 to $837 million, while support for university-based research and education will drop slightly from $476 million in FY1999, to $475 million in FY2000. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Research can expect a drop, from $287 million in FY1999 to $283 million in FY2000. The National Institute of Standards and Technologies, which Congress has opposed funding in recent years, has a proposed budget of $635 million for FY2000, up from $540 million in FY1999. Most of EPA's proposed hike from $671 million in FY1999 to $751 million in FY2000 can be attributed to potential boosts in its climate change research program. The program would double, from $109 million in FY1999 to $216 million in FY2000. Interior's total budget would increase by 14 percent, from $517 million in FY1999 to $590 million in FY2000. The U.S. Geological Survey would get a slight lift, from $798 million in FY1999 to $838 million in FY2000.

D Falls in FY 2000 Budget Proposal

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