Budget Accord Offers Opportunity to Increase Federal Science Funding

Congress approved a two-year budget plan on February 9 that would increase authorizations for federal spending. The agreement passed in the Senate (71-28) and House (240-186) and was signed into law by President Trump. The bipartisan agreement raised the caps on defense and nondefense discretionary spending by nearly $300 billion over two years, with nondefense discretionary spending - the biggest source of research funding - getting a $63 billion boost in FY 2018 and an additional $68 billion in FY 2019.
Congress has yet to complete work on FY 2018 appropriations, however. Appropriations legislation is the legislative vehicle that actually provides funding for government operations.
Almost all agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are funded under the discretionary budget might now be able to receive modest budget increases if Congress so chooses to appropriate additional funding.
Representative Tom Cole (R-OK), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee said, “We are not handing these increases out uniformly and some areas will get cuts, it’s not like everyone is going to be spared by this.”
Senate lawmakers have proposed a $2 billion increase in the NIH budget for FY 2018, $1 billion more than the level proposed by the House. The new agreement tags a $2 billion increase in NIH’...

Source: Public Policy Reports - February 24, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news