Spending Bill Boosts US Science Budgets, Unlocks Gun Research

The legislative package for 2020 allots $25 million for gun-violence research, which has been on hold for more than two decades.

Ashley Yeager

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For the 2020 fiscal year, most US research agencies will receive a funding increase, according to details of a spending bill released by Congress yesterday (December 16).

The National Science Foundation will receive $203 million more than it did this year, for a $8.28 billion budget, space science at NASA will receive a $233 million increase, to a total of $7.14 billion, while the Department of Energy’s Office of Science will receive an additional $415 million, for a budget of $7 billion if the bill is passed. The National Institutes of Health, will also receive a $2.6 billion boost, for a total annual budget of $41.7 billion, Science reports.

A total of $2.8 billion of the NIH budget, a boost of $330 million over this year, will be earmarked for Alzheimer’s research, with another $12.5 million for firearm injury and mortality protection research. The Centers for ...

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Meet the Author

Ashley Yeager
Ashley started at The Scientist in 2018. Before joining the staff, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, a writer at the Simons Foundation, and a web producer at Science News, among other positions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT. Ashley edits the Scientist to Watch and Profile sections of the magazine and writes news, features, and other stories for both online and print.
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