FY 2016 Budget Request: DOE Office of Science

The Obama Administration has requested an increase of 5.4 percent in the budget for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science in FY 2016. Under this request, sent to Congress yesterday, the budget would increase from $5,067.7 million to $5,339.8 million.

Senior officials were upbeat in their presentations about the Office of Science request, as well as that for the Department as a whole. DOE’s total budget would increase 9.2 percent, or $2,521.4 million from $27,402.4 million to $29,923.8 million.

The FY 2016 request is summarized in a 72-page document prepared by the Office of Chief Financial Officer: Department of Energy, FY 2016 Congressional Budget Request, Budget in Brief . This is one of a series of reports available at this site; see Volume 4 for the Office of Science.

An opening sentence in the document notes that one of DOE’s four “critical responsibilities for America’s security and prosperity” is “Providing the backbone for America’s research community, especially in the physical sciences, as the foundation for discovery and innovation.” It later explains “The seventeen DOE national laboratories are core scientific and technical assets for carrying out these missions.”

There is introductory material about the Office of Science and its programs on page 3 of the Budget in Brief . Additional information is provided about each program within the Office of Science on pages 25 – 28. In addition, Patricia Dehmer, Acting Director for the Office of Science, provided an overview of the Office of Science request in a briefing yesterday; the 41 exhibits accompanying her presentation are available here .

Total Office of Science:
The FY 2015 appropriation was $5,067.7 million
The FY 2016 request is $5,339.8 million, an increase of $272.1 million or 5.4 percent

Within the Office of Science are the following selected programs:

Advanced Scientific Computing Research:
The FY 2015 appropriation was $541.0 million
The FY 2016 request is $621.0 million, an increase of $80.0 million or 14.8 percent

Basic Energy Sciences:
The FY 2015 appropriation was $1,733.2 million
The FY 2016 request is $1,849.3 million, an increase of $116.1 million or 6.7 percent

Biological and Environmental Research:
The FY 2015 appropriation was $592.0 million
The FY 2016 request is $612.4 million, an increase of $20.4 million or 3.5 percent

Fusion Energy Sciences:
The FY 2015 appropriation was $467.5 million
The FY 2016 request is $420.0 million, a decrease of $47.5 million or 10.2 percent

High Energy Physics:
The FY 2015 appropriation was $766.0 million
The FY 2016 request is $788.0 million, an increase of $22.0 million or 2.9 percent

Nuclear Physics:
The FY 2015 appropriation was $595.5 million
The FY 2016 request is $624.6 million, an increase of $29.1 million or 4.9 percent