1. R&D Funding in the New Administration and Congress
Matt Hourihan
July 11, 2017
For the APLU CoR Summer Meeting
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program

5. R&D Funding in the Obama Years…and the Trump Years?
While the President’s requests were regularly unfulfilled, appropriators still found ways to fund research…when there was fiscal room
“All politics is local”
Competitiveness, health, energy security, national security
However, still areas of particular disagreement, i.e.:
Climate science
Social science
Applied tech: energy, manufacturing
Duplication, role of government, waste, accountability, transparency

9. UPDATED R&D in the FY 2018 Budget
(budget authority in millions of dollars)
FY 2016
FY 2017
FY 2018
Change FY 17-18
Actual
Estimate*
Budget
Amount
Percent
Total R&D
149,520
156,834
149,606
-7,229
-4.6%
Basic Research
32,883
34,743
28,934
-5,808
-16.7%
Applied Research
39,569
40,455
35,119
-5,336
-13.2%
Development**
75,584
79,175
83,659
4,484
5.7%
Facilities & Equipment
2,579
2,513
2,175
-337
-13.4%
Defense R&D**
79,109
83,752
92,477
8,725
10.4%
Nondefense R&D
70,411
73,082
57,129
-15,954
-21.8%
*AAAS estimates based on the FY 2017 omnibus. Other years based on OMB data revised with agency R&D data.
**Using old definition, continuing to count DOD 6.7 as R&D.
6/21/2017 | AAAS

12. Congressional Reception and Questions…
Many Republican responses have been negative:
“draconian, careless, and counterproductive”
“cannot pass”
“does not work”
“you’ll see some changes”
“ridiculous”
FY 2018 budget: Where do the caps end up…
House: operating in ad hoc fashion for now
Few surprises so far: basic science protected more than applied, defense preferred to nondefense
Senate: FY17 levels to start out?
Eventually: will probably have to reach a deal, but what??
…and how will ultimate appropriations shake out?
Actual omnibus? Minibuses? Full-year CR?
What about the veto?

14. House Appropriations So Far: DOE and USDA
Dept. of Energy (Subcommittee level)
Flat funding for the Office of Science
Questions remaining: Program distribution? Climate research? ITER? Hubs and EFRCs?
Trims most tech programs
Big cuts for efficiency, renewables; ARPA-E zeroed out
NNSA boosted
USDA Research (Subcommittee level)
Most offices cut, except NASS (Census of Agriculture)
Formula funds? AFRI?
No Forest Service numbers yet

15. House Appropriations So Far: CJS Agencies (Subcommittee level)
NSF: research, education flat funded
Total agency: 1.8% below FY17 (Cuts to facilities, presumably for research vessel acquisition specifically)
NASA: Higher than request in most areas
Agency total: 1.1% above FY17; Science: +1.6%
Planetary and astrophysics prioritized
Education office protected
NIST: labs cut by 4.3%; preserves (but cuts) Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Manufacturing USA
NOAA: Looking at steep cuts but waiting for details by line office/program

16. House Appropriations So Far: DOD (Full committee)
Most accounts above request
Basic research: steep cuts for Army, Air Force
Much less for peer-reviewed medical research (-38.1% for all medical RDT&E)
“National Defense Restoration Fund”: $2 billion extra for R&D programs, at the Secretary’s discretion
If signed into law, might expect downstream development activities to benefit first

18. For more info…