Budget and Appropriations

The Trump administration proposes to shave about $500 million from the National Science Foundation’s current $8.3 billion budget while ramping up support for selected priority areas, such as artificial intelligence, quantum information science, and spectrum sharing research.

New policy proposals circulating in Congress and floated on the campaign trail suggest that politicians in both parties have an appetite for significantly increasing federal R&D spending.

President Trump’s latest budget request largely repeats past proposals to sharply reduce funding for non-defense R&D programs across the federal government. However, it includes a stronger emphasis on research tied to the administration’s “Industries of the Future” focus areas, especially artificial intelligence and quantum information science.

Congress provided a mix of budget increases to federal STEM education programs for fiscal year 2020.

The budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration is continuing its recent rapid rise, with the latest appropriation supporting major new plutonium research and production initiatives while rejecting a proposal to pare back the inertial confinement fusion program.

The budget for the Defense Department’s Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation activities is continuing to rise dramatically in fiscal year 2020, with a focus on late-stage prototyping and testing. Funding for earlier-stage R&D accounts is rising by 1% to $16.1 billion.

The National Institutes of Health is receiving a multibillion dollar budget increase for the fifth time in a row, with its total budget increasing by 7% to $42 billion. Congress also directs the agency to adopt stronger policies regarding sexual harassment and research security.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s appropriation for fiscal year 2020 includes significant boosts to facilities construction projects, climate change research centers, and mapping programs. Congress also rejected a proposed restructuring of the agency.

The budget for the National Institute of Standards and Technology is increasing by 5% to just over $1 billion in fiscal year 2020, with much of the additional funding directed toward priority research areas and facility construction projects.