=20 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [ <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of = [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 5:01 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [NCSE] Wrap-Up of Federal Funding for Environmental R&D in FY = 2006 =20 Wrap-Up of Federal Funding for Environmental R&D in FY 2006 Basic Research Declines in Final Appropriations Bills =20 January 30, 2006 -- Federal funding for research and development (R&D) = will rise to a record $134.8 billion in FY 2006, an increase of $2.2 billion = or 1.7 percent. Despite this nominal increase, federal funding for R&D = will decline in real dollars (adjusting for inflation) for the first time in = nine years. Moreover, 97 percent of the nominal increase is devoted to = defense weapons development and human space exploration technologies. Federal funding for all other areas of R&D combined will be nearly flat, falling = by about 2 percent after adjusting for inflation. =20 =20 Funding for basic research (excluding development and applied research) across the entire federal government will decline by $130 million or 0.5 percent to $26.7 billion in FY 2006. In real dollars, federal funding = for basic research will fall by approximately 2.5 percent in FY 2006. = Several agencies that support environmental R&D are discussed below. =20 =20 National Science Foundation (NSF). After declining last year, the NSF budget will increase by 2.0 percent or $108 million to $5.6 billion in = FY 2006. Nearly half of the budget increase reflects the transfer of $48 million of existing funds from the Coast Guard to cover the costs of = polar icebreakers. In real dollars, the NSF R&D portfolio in FY 2006 is = smaller than each of the last three years. The budget for NSF=12s Research and Related Activities account is $4.3 billion, an increase of $111 million = or 2.6 percent. However, much of this increase is for expenses that are = not classified as R&D (e.g., polar icebreaking costs previously funded by = the Coast Guard). Most of the disciplinary directorates (e.g., biological sciences and geosciences) are expected to receive small budget = increases, but in real dollars these budgets will remain below or nearly even with their funding levels in FY 2003 and FY 2004. NSF=12s Education and = Human Resources budget will be cut by 5.3 percent or $45 million to $797 = million. The budget for Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction will increase by 9.9 percent or $17 million to $191 million. This program = will have no new starts in FY 2006 but it provides funding for four ongoing projects, including EarthScope and the Scientific Ocean Drilling Vessel. = In FY 2006, the NSF budget is nearly $3 billion below the level authorized = in the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002, which called = for doubling the NSF budget in five years. =20 =20 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS budget will increase by 3.6 = percent or $34 million to $971 million in FY 2006. Congress reversed a small = cut that was proposed in the President's budget request and added additional funding for the USGS. The budget request would have cut funding for the USGS minerals research program by more than 50 percent from $54 million = to $25 million. As in past years, Congress restored funding for the = minerals program, adding back $30 million in FY 2006, and used strong language in opposing the proposed cuts. Likewise, Congress appropriated $6.5 = million for the Water Resource Research Institutes, which have been eliminated = in the President's budget request for many years. Mapping and Geography = R&D will increase by 11 percent or $4 million to $40 million, restoring = funding for land remote sensing programs. The USGS biological resources = discipline received $4 million in emergency supplemental funds for research on = avian flu, which has the potential to become a global pandemic. Although the = USGS fared relatively well in the FY 2006 appropriations process, its budget = has been nearly flat in real dollars for more than a decade. =20 =20 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA budget will decline by = $400 million or 5.0 percent to $7.6 billion in FY 2006. The biggest change = in the EPA budget is a $440 million cut in state and tribal assistance = grants to $3.1 billion, reflecting a reduction in congressional earmarks for environmental projects. EPA=12s Science and Technology account will = decline by $13 million or 1.8 percent to $731 million. However, the R&D = component of the Science and Technology account will increase by $7 million or 1.3 percent to $541 million. Funding levels for EPA=12s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) research grants and graduate fellowships are not = available at this time. =20 =20 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The R&D budget = for NOAA will increase by 1.7 percent or $11 million to $661 million in FY = 2006. However, the increase is due to a $51 million earmark for Alaskan = fisheries and marine mammals R&D, resulting in a net decrease for all other NOAA = R&D programs. After a tumultuous process, the final budget for NOAA R&D = budget is 23.8 percent higher than the President's budget request, which called = for a cut of $116 million to $534 million. The R&D budget for NOAA=12s = National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will increase by 114 percent or $40 = million to $103 million. Excluding the $51 million increase for the new Alaskan program, there will be a net decrease in funding for other NMFS = programs. The R&D budget for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) will decrease = by 4.8 percent or $16 million to $322 million. Within OAR, Climate = Research will decline by approximately $21 million to $157 million but research = on weather and air quality will increase by $14 million to $66 million. Funding for the National Sea Grant College Program, which provides = research grants to more than 200 universities, will decline by $7 million to $55 million. =20 =20 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The budget for = NASA is $16.6 billion in FY 2006, an increase of $400 million or 2.5 percent. However, $350 million of the increase is for emergency funding to repair NASA facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina. NASA's R&D budget will increase by 6.2 percent or $661 million to $11.4 billion. The R&D = budget contains enormous increases for developing technologies needed to = replace the Space Shuttle and return humans to the moon and then onto Mars; the = R&D budget for the Constellation Systems program will increase by 169 = percent or $712 million to $1.1 billion in FY 2006. The budgets for all other NASA = R&D programs will have a net decline. Funding for the Earth-Sun System = program, restructured from the former Earth Science program, will decline by 8.3 percent to $2.1 billion in FY 2006. Congress has endorsed NASA's = proposal to restructure and downsize its biological and physical sciences = research portfolio into a Human Systems Research and Technology program; the = budget for the former biological and physical sciences research portfolio will decline by 14.4 percent to $791 million. Significant changes in = NASA=12s budget may occur during the year due to such factors as the changing = Space Shuttle launch schedule and shifting timelines for completing the International Space Station. =20 =20 The FY 2006 appropriations process was clouded by a flurry of late bills that modified the earlier bills. When the dust settled, all of the = budgets had to be recalculated. The final appropriations bill contains a retroactive 1 percent across-the-board cut for almost all agencies. Conversely, the final bill provides emergency supplemental = appropriations that increased the budgets of some agencies. This article, which is = based on an analysis of the federal budget conducted by the American = Association for the Advancement of Science, is adjusted to account for multiple recissions and emergency supplemental appropriations. =20 =20
Craig M. Schiffries, Ph.D. Director of Science Policy National Council for Science and the Environment =20 =20 _______________________________________________ ESIP-all mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.rtpnet.org/mailman/listinfo/esip-all Vincent G. Ambrosia Senior Research Scientist / Adjunct Faculty Science and Environmental Policy California State University - Monterey Bay (CSUMB) Mail Stop 242-4 NASA-Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA. 94035-1000 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Office: (650) 604-6565 Fax: (650) 604 -4680 "Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing" -- Wernher Von Braun=20
