NIH Is Losing Its Funding Edge, 2014 Budget Suggests

摘要

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) receives nearly one-half of what the federal government spends on basic research. But when it's time to dole out more dollars, NIH may no longer be the first among equals. A December agreement to ease the pain of last year's across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration freed up some $22 billion in additional discretionary funding for domestic programs. But in a break from the past, agencies supporting the physical sciences and engineering research did much better than NIH in the 2014 budget that was enacted last week (Science, 17 January, p. 237). And analysts say the pattern could repeat itself in the 2015 fiscal year, when legislators have no more to spend.