1. The U.S. Federal R&D Budget Process Matt Hourihan October 22, 2014 For the Joint Dialogue on Comparing U.S. and Chinese Approaches to S&T Budget and Resource Allocation AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd

2. A Typical Federal Budget Cycle

3. Agency Budgeting (“Phase 1 and 2”) One Agency’s R&D Budget Coordination (?) and Top-Down Guidance Decentralized planning and scientific input

5. A Typical Federal Budget Cycle

6. Congressional Decisions (“Phase 3”) Distributed responsibility: 4 of 12 appropriations subcommittees each responsible for at least $10 billion in R&D 5 of 12 responsible for another $1-2 billion each No concerted assessment of full R&D portfolio Limited avenues for formal S&T advice “All politics is local” Broader fiscal context matters

7. So How Does It Work in Practice? One example: Human Genome Project Science community takes early interest in sequencing Senior DOE Science personnel conceive plan, work their way up the hierarchy: Elicit support from DOE superiors, OMB Endorsements, guidance from advisory panels Appropriators and authorizers on board Separately and slightly behind, NIH sets up its own program Interagency rivalry evolves to collaboration

8. For more info… mhouriha@aaas.org 202-326-6607 www.aaas.org/spp/rd/