Scientists funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) find themselves at the center of two conflicts. One is an ideological battle between the Obama Administration and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives over the type of research that should be funded. The other, more practical, tussle involves making allocations within DOE's $4.8 billion Office of Science. The ideological struggle may garner more attention, but the practical one may cause DOE-funded researchers greater heartache. On the ideological front, President Barack Obama's call for greater investments in new, greener energy technologies is reflected in a push by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to increase spending by the Office of Science on basic research that's more directly related to energy. Chu also champions the fledgling Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) as a way to develop the most promising technologies. Its budget is currently $180 million. Congress, however, has less appetite for "clean tech" and ARPA-E. In markups of the proposed budget for fiscal year 2012, which began 1 October, House and Senate appropriators allotted ARPA-E $180 million and $250 million, respectively, far short of the requested $550 million.
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