Our colleagues at the ScienceInsider blog highlight an analysis by AAAS (which publishes Science Careers) of the draft economic stimulus bill released yesterday by the House Appropriations Committee. According to the analysis the bill calls for $16 billion in research and development spending over the next 2 years, with $9.9 billion of that devoted to research.
Here are some of the proposed increases for research and related spending by agency. Once again, under the draft bill these increases would be spread over 2 years.
Two big cautions are required at this point. First, this is only a draft of a bill, which has not even been introduced, let alone passed, reconciled, and signed by the President. Thus, many of these numbers will change.
Second, as Science Careers editor Jim Austin pointed out in November, we need to keep an eye what happens after this stimulus bill is passed (assuming it passes). The commitment to science and the career development of scientists needs to continue over an extended period of time. It can't be just a one-shot deal.
Here are some of the proposed increases for research and related spending by agency. Once again, under the draft bill these increases would be spread over 2 years.
- National Science Foundation. $2 billion for research grants; for comparison, the 2008 budget for research and related activities was about $4.8 billion, and the total 2008 NSF budget (including major equipment, education, and a few smaller items) was $6 billion.
- National Institutes of Health. $1.5 billion to fund research, distributed across the institutes. The 2008 budget was just under $30 billion.
- Department of Energy, Office of Science: $2 billion. This number includes funding for facilities upgrades and advanced scientific computing, as well as research grants.
- Department of Energy, energy programs. $2 billion for "energy efficiency and renewable research, development, demonstration, and deployment projects"
- Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy. $400 million for start-up, authorized in 2008 but never funded
- NASA. $400 million for earth science climate research and $150 million for aeronautics research
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). $100 million for NIST lab research.
- Department of Defense. $350 million for energy-related R&D.
- Department of Health and Human Services. $430 million for advanced biodefense countermeasures R&D in the new Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
Two big cautions are required at this point. First, this is only a draft of a bill, which has not even been introduced, let alone passed, reconciled, and signed by the President. Thus, many of these numbers will change.
Second, as Science Careers editor Jim Austin pointed out in November, we need to keep an eye what happens after this stimulus bill is passed (assuming it passes). The commitment to science and the career development of scientists needs to continue over an extended period of time. It can't be just a one-shot deal.
