Bush proposes 3.3% increase in FY 2009 R&D budget

摘要

After a rocky end to the fiscal year (FY) 2008 appropriations process, in which R&D funding was hit hard, President Bush on February 4 released a proposed budget of $3.1 trillion for FY 2009. The president's budget includes increases for the three physical sciences agencies in his American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), increases for human spacecraft development, and flat funding for biomedical research in the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Overall, Bush requested $145.4 billion for R&D, up $4.6 billion or 3.3% over FY 2008. However, increases for some agencies will mean cuts or flat funding for other agencies. Congress on December 19 approved an omnibus appropriations bill (signed by Bush a week later) that combined 11 unfinished FY 2008 appropriations bills. In doing so, however, Congress failed, after a veto threat from Bush, in its bid to add $22 billion in new domestic spending. As a result, the final bill did not include a roughly $2 billion increase that Congress had sought for nondefense R&D. Federal investment in basic and applied research for FY 2008 will increase just 1.1% to $57.5 billion, less than the 2.4% expected inflation rate. Total federal R&D (including development) would increase 1.2% to $142.7 billion.