FROM THE HILL

摘要

A funny thing happened on the way to the White House 2019 fiscal year budget, which the Trump administration released on February 12, 2018: Congress adopted a sweeping deal to substantially increase the budget's spending caps. The administration had originally planned a repeat performance of last year's budget, according to documents posted to the White House Office of Management and Budget website. This would have included a cut of more than 20% for basic science, with massive reductions to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), among other agencies. The administration also again planned on targeting environmental science programs, applied technology research within the Department of Energy (DOE), and other such programs. But with the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 on February 8, Congress demonstrated (not for the first time) an unwillingness to move the budget in the direction preferred by the administration. Congress added $68 billion to the nondefense discretionary cap in FY 2019, whereas the administration had intended to cut nondefense spending by $65 billion, according to its official documents.