A total of $3,431.7 million was requested for the Department of Energy's
Office of Science in President Bush's FY 2005 budget request. This represents
a reduction of 2.0%, or $68.5 million, from FY 2004 funding of $3,500.2
million. However, according to Office of Science Director Ray Orbach,
the cut reflects the elimination of $140.7 million in congressionally-directed
earmarks in the FY 2004 appropriation for Biological and Environmental
Research, which were not included in the FY 2005 request. Taking this
into consideration, Orbach said, the request of $3,431.7 million would
represent an increase of 2.2%, or $72.3 million, over the FY 2004 appropriation
of $3,359.4 million for the Office of Science core programs.
Orbach cited a number of research priorities that would receive funding
increases under this request, including ITER; nanoscience and technology;
hydrogen production, storage, and use; genomics; Linac light source;
scientific workforce; and climate change science, among others. He also
reported that there would be an enhancement of $43 million (to $1,383
million) to increase the running time of scientific user facilities
from 92% to 95% of optimum. To fund these increases, Orbach noted that
there were planned funding decreases for the SNS, LHC, and SLI. Additionally,
he discussed a proposed reduction of $25 million to the Scientific Laboratories
Infrastructure account, saying it would mean a delay of at least a year
in some building projects at national laboratories, but he said he was
seeking third-party funding to make up some of the shortfall, and that
it was "simply a question of priorities."
The complete DOE budget documents can be found at http://www.mbe.doe.gov/budget/05budget/index.htm.
Highlights of the request for each of the Office of Science programs
are available in the "Budget Highlights" document (in pdf
format) under "Science Strategic Goal," at http://www.mbe.doe.gov/budget/05budget/content/highlite/highlite.pdf
. Below are the percentage and dollar changes between the current
year and the FY 2005 request for selected Office of Science programs
tracked by FYI:
HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS:
Up 0.5% or $3.8 million, from $733.6 million to $737.4 million.
NUCLEAR PHYSICS:
Up 2.9% or $11.4 million, from $389.6 million to $401.0 million.
FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES:
Up 0.6% or $1.6 million, from $262.6 million to $264.1 million.
BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES:
Up 5.2% or $52.9 million, from $1,010.6 million to $1,063.5 million.
BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH:
Down 21.8% or $139.9 million, from $641.5 million to $501.6 million.
SCIENCE LABORATORIES INFRASTRUCTURE:
Down 46.4%, or $25.2 million, from $54.3 million to $29.1 million.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT FOR SCIENTISTS AND TEACHERS:
Up 19.1% or $1.2 million, from $6.4 million to $7.7 million.
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