House Appropriations Bill Would Maintain DOD S&T at Current Level

The House of Representatives is expected to vote tonight on the FY 2006 Defense Appropriations Bill. Under this bill, H.R. 2863, funding for the 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 science and technology programs would remain at essentially the current level, declining by 0.6% or $83.6 million. Total funding for these three accounts across all three service branches and defense-wide (such as DARPA) is currently $13,056,011,000. It would decline to $12,972,384,000.

The Quadrennial Defense Review, issued in 2001, incorporated a recommendation by the Defense Science Board that total spending for these programs be 3% of the total DOD budget. The $409 billion House bill provides 3.17% of the total funding for the three programs.

House Report 109-119 accompanying the bill recommends funding levels for the specific research programs, and can be accessed at http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app06.html ; see Research and Development. The following numbers are calculated from these levels, using the R-1 document prepared by the Comptroller of the Department of Defense for the FY 2005 base, which is available at http://www.defenselink.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2006/fy2006_r1.pdf See http://www.aip.org/fyi/2005/018.html for additional detail on the administration’s request. Under the House bill, the following changes would be made as compared to current funding levels:

AGGREGATE 6.1 (basic research) funding would decline 4.0% to $1,454 million. The administration requested $1,319 million.
AGGREGATE 6.2 (applied research) funding would increase 4.3% to $5,057 million. The administration requested $4,139 million.
AGGREGATE 6.3 (advanced technology development) funding would decline 3.5% to $6,462 million. The administration requested $5,064 million.
TOTAL AGGREGATE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would decline 0.6% from $13,056 million to $12,972 million. The administration requested $10,522 million.

ARMY 6.1 funding would decline 11.8% to $352 million
ARMY 6.2 funding would increase 6.2% to $1,187 million
ARMY 6.3 funding would decline 0.8% to $1,374 million
TOTAL AGGREGATE ARMY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase 0.6%, from $2,896 million to $2,912 million. The administration requested $1,735 million.

NAVY 6.1 funding would decline 2.1% to $481 million
NAVY 6.2 funding would decline 12.9% to $716 million
NAVY 6.3 funding would increase 6.2% to $981 million
TOTAL AGGREGATE NAVY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would decline 4.8%, from $2,289 million to $2,178 million. The administration requested $1,776 million.

AIR FORCE 6.1 funding would decline 8.1% to $352 million
AIR FORCE 6.2 funding would increase 8.6% to $1,027 million
AIR FORCE 6.3 funding would decline 4.4% to $957 million
TOTAL AGGREGATE AIR FORCE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase 0.3% from $2,330 million to $2,336 million. The administration requested $1,980 million.

DEFENSE-WIDE (DARPA, etc.) 6.1 funding would decline 9.3% to $269 million
DEFENSE-WIDE 6.2 funding would increase 8.3% to $2,127 million
DEFENSE WIDE 6.3 funding would decrease 5.4% to $3,151 million
TOTAL AGGREGATE DEFENSE-WIDE funding would increase 0.1% from $5,542 million to $5,547 million. The administration requested $5,031 million.