As of this writing, the FY 2010 federal budget process has been extended via a continuing resolution (CR) until December 18, 2009. While progress is being made—(four appropriation bills have been signed)—many key bills are still in waiting, including, unlike in recent years, the Defense appropriation bill that includes the single largest appropriation for R&D. Most observers believe that the final appropriations bills will lead to an overall budget fairly close to the Administration’s request of $147.6 billion, which is about a 0.4% increase from the FY 2009 budget. With the four completed appropriations bills, R&D funding, combined with the Administration’s budget in the remaining departments and agencies, totals currently at $147.9 billion, which is an increase of 0.56%. Unless there are some significant Congressional additions, which may be likely in some department budgets, we are headed toward a baseline FY2010 federal budget that fails to keep up with inflation.
From a current tactical standpoint, however, most federal departments and agencies are still working through the selection and disbursement of their portion of the additional $18.4 billion in ARRA funding aimed at R&D and innovation. This process and funding likely will go well beyond FY 2010. The influx of research funding, with much of it aimed at extramural research, has required new processes and staffing to manage these efforts. To fully understand the magnitude of this additional funding, one just has to recognize that the ARRA funding is more than six times the likely baseline R&D budget increase for all the federal departments combined, from FY 2009 to FY 2010.
The four appropriation bills that have been signed include funding for the Departments of Energy, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency. The following is an overview of the R&D highlights of these bills.
Dept. of Energy (DOE)
The final FY 2010 DOE appropriation includes $10.64 billion for R&D, or 39.2% of the total DOE FY 2010 budget. That is an increase of 4.7% over its base FY 2009 R&D funding. Within this R&D total, general science funding accounts for the largest share at 41.6%, but it received the smallest percentage increase over the year at 2.4%. The specific “energy” R&D budget component received the largest increase, 9.1%, bringing its FY 2010 total to $2.28 billion. Finally, the defense R&D budget component within DOE will reach $3.93 billion in FY 2010, a 4.8% increase.
After receiving $400 million in the ARRA and $15 million in FY 2009, the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E), was eliminated as a specific line item in the final budget. ARPA-E will ultimately receive $15 million in FY 2010, but as a congressionally directed “carve out” from the DOE Science budget, as opposed to its own line item.
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Dept. of Agriculture (USDA)
The USDA R&D budget is set to receive an increase of $185 million, or 7.6%, over FY 2009 appropriations, to $2.61 billion for R&D in FY 2010. Of this, nearly half (49.2%) goes to the Agricultural Research Service, 31.1% to research within the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, 14.0% to the Forest Service for forest and rangeland research, and the remaining 5.7% for funding the R&D efforts of various other Service components.
Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS)
The DHS received a FY 2010 appropriation of $1.17 billion for R&D, amounting to an increase of 6.0% over FY 2009 and accounting for 2.2% of the total DHS budget. DHS Science and Technology receives the majority of the funding at $863 million (74.0%), including earmarks.
Dept. of Interior (DOI) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
The DOI is slated to receive $719 million for R&D efforts, primarily within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This amounts to a 3.9% increase over FY 2009 for the DOI overall. The specific R&D budget for the USGS was given an 8.0% increase, to $660 million, in FY 2010. The EPA R&D budget as proposed by the Administration is set to receive a 6.7% increase, to $619 million, in FY 2010.
FY 2010 budgets for the remaining departments or agencies with significant R&D portfolios to be completed include the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services (principally the National Institutes of Health), the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Department of Commerce. Currently, these departments are operating at FY 2009 budget levels. The overview that follows is based upon the OSTP analysis of the President’s FY 2010 budget.
Dept. of Defense (DOD)
Though unlikely, the FY 2010 DOD R&D budget is slated for a 2.4% decrease, dropping below $80 billion, if the final budget is enacted at the levels proposed by the Administration. Current congressional action has the budget near the $80 billion mark, but has yet to go through conference, as of this writing.
National Institutes of Health (NIH/HHS)
The NIH is slated for a 1.5% increase in the Administration’s FY2010 budget, reaching $30.2 billion, with the overall HHS budget increasing by 1.7%. The largest increase both in dollars and share is proposed for the National Cancer Institute—an increase of $181 million, or 3.6%, as part of the Administration’s effort to double research while maintaining other funding. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is in line for the second largest increase of $58 million.
National Science Foundation
The Administration’s budget request for NSF calls for a 9.4% increase in R&D funding to $5.31 billion in FY 2010 as part of the planned doubling of basic research by 2016. Within this overall increase, the Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Geosciences directorates are each budgeted to receive the largest increases of more than $100 million— $124 and $102 million, respectively. However, congressional action on the NSF appropriation slightly tempers the overall growth rate, with total NSF R&D funding increases currently at 8.9% in the House and 8.4% in the Senate.
NASA
As proposed in the Administration’s budget, the NASA R&D budget would be increased from $10.40 billion in FY 2009 to $11.44 billion in FY 2010. Current congressional action would, however, likely reduce the total NASA budget slightly. Two “wildcards” in the ultimate establishment of the overall NASA budget include the impacts of the Human Space Flight Plans (“Augustine”) Committee report, but the impacts are more likely to be felt in the FY 2011 budget. In addition, Congress may establish new accounting lines, which may impact the final reported R&D appropriations and the comparability to previous years.
Dept. of Commerce (DOC)
The DOC budget as proposed by the Administration would include an overall increase of 2.9% in R&D funding, from $1.29 billion in FY2009 to $1.33 billion in FY2010. Within this increase is a proposed 15.8% increase for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), from $550 million to $637 million. This increase is partially offset through a proposed 8% reduction in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) R&D budget of $56 million.
