Spending for all R&D programs under the President's budget would total $122.7 billion, almost 7% more than was proposed for 2003. This includes a 9% increase for Department of Defense development and testing, a 32% jump for homeland security R&D, and even a 10% increase for research funding at the National Science Foundation.

Other research-funding agencies did not fare so well. At the Energy Department, the Office of Science would receive slightly more than 1% more than this year. Research at the Department of Agriculture would be slightly less than this year, and R&D at the Commerce Department would be down 9% from 2003 figures, much of that from the loss of the Advanced Technology Program. And for the National Institutes of Health, where double-digit increases over the past five years have doubled the budget, the President has proposed a mere 2% increase.

The President has identified five areas he considers multiagency R&D priorities. These areas are considered critical to the nation or are newly recognized needs. They include research to combat terrorism, networking and information technology, education research, global climate change studies, and continuation of the nanotechnology initiative.

Analyzing this year's budget is complicated by the fact that Congress did not pass the fiscal 2003 budget before this budget was proposed. Comparisons of 2004 with 2003, therefore, are somewhat difficult at this time, as Senate and House members struggle to complete the 2003 omnibus spending bill.

The following review of R&D agencies comes with other caveats, too. The numbers given are mostly budget obligations: the money that agencies can contract to spend during the fiscal year. This may be more or less than the agencies actually spend, or outlay, during the year. Also, the federal budget is a complicated document with various ways of adding up programs and getting totals. As a result, sometimes agency or department figures and totals from the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) are not the same and can be published in different places as different amounts. These variations are usually small and reflect alternative methods of dividing up funds. 

NSF. "In our 21st-century world, knowledge is the currency of everyday life, and at NSF, we're in the knowledge business," NSF Director Rita R. Colwell said as she outlined the agency's 2004 budget. The Administration is requesting a budget of $5.5 billion, a 9% increase over the yet-to-be finalized 2003 budget.

A highlight of the 2004 budget is the 12.7% increase in funding for the Mathematical & Physical Sciences Directorate. The increase will bring the directorate above the $1 billion mark for the first time. This funding signals renewed support by the Administration for physics, chemistry, and materials science.

Congress helped pave the way for the growth in NSF's budget last December by passing an authorization law to double the agency's funding from 2003 to 2007. The increase in funding will provide a significant boost to NSF, which currently accounts for 4% of the total annual spending for R&D and supports more than a third of the basic research in the physical sciences at colleges and universities.

As in the past, NSF's budget request was structured around its three strategic goals: people, ideas, and tools. The 2004 request includes investment of $1.2 billion in people, who are the "key to developing the nation's full talent and increasing the productivity of our workforce"; $2.7 billion in ideas, which "build the intellectual capital that drives technology innovation and spurs economic growth"; and $1.3 billion in tools, which "boost the overall productivity of the research and education enterprise."

One of the highlights of the 2004 budget is the third installment of $200 million for the Math & Science Partnership program--part of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Initiative. The five-year, $1 billion program links local schools with colleges and universities to improve K–12 math and science education, train teachers, and create innovative ways to reach out to students and schools.

A proposed 22% increase in graduate fellowship and traineeship programs was also highlighted by NSF. In fiscal 2004, graduate fellowship stipends will increase to $30,000, up $5,000 from fiscal 2003. Nearly 350 more students will be supported thanks to the increase in funding, bringing the total number of supported students to 5,000.

Also noted were several priority areas for research and education. One is nanoscience and engineering. NSF heads the National Nanotechnology Initiative and has requested $249 million to expand basic research on new materials, biological systems on the nanoscale, and quantum computing. "The ability to manipulate and control matter at the nanoscale will open new possibilities in materials and manufacturing, medicine, environment, energy, and national security," Colwell noted.

The budget also includes $100 million for the agency's biocomplexity in the environment initiative. This funding will continue support for microbial genome sequencing and the ecology of infectious diseases--two key areas in U.S. antiterrorism efforts.

To encourage greater participation in science and engineering among minorities and women, several programs are seeking funding increases. These include the Historically Black Colleges & Universities Undergraduate Program, which is asking for a 43% increase over fiscal 2003 for a total of $20 million; the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation Program, which is requesting a 23% increase to a total of $32.7 million; and the ADVANCE program for women, which is seeking a 23% increase to a total of $21.2 million.

 

NSF Mathematical and physical sciences gets a 12.7% increase ... $ MILLIONS 2002a 2003b 2004c CHANGE 2003–04 Research & related activities $3,616.0 $3,783.1 $4,106.3 8.5% Mathematical & physical sciences 920.4 941.6 1,061.3 12.7 Geosciences 609.6 691.1 687.9 –0.5 Computer & information science & engineering 515.0 526.9 584.3 10.9 Biological sciences 509.6 525.6 562.2 7.0 Engineering 470.8 487.9 536.5 10.0 Chemical & transport systems 57.2 58.9 66.2 12.4 Bioengineering & environmental systems 41.3 43.9 47.9 9.1 Polar programs 300.8 303.8 329.9 8.6 Social, behavioral & economic sciences 184.0 195.6 211.7 8.2 Integrative activities 105.8 110.6 132.5 19.8 Education & human resources 866.1 908.1 938.0 3.3 Major research equipment 115.4 126.3 202.3 60.2 Other 176.6 210.7 234.5 11.3 TOTAL $4,774.1 $5,028.2 $5,481.1 9.0% ... and chemistry gets a 13% boost ... $ MILLIONS 2002a 2003b 2004c CHANGE 2003–04 Ocean sciences $281.1 $319.0 $313.7 –1.7% Materials research 219.4 219.3 246.1 12.2 Atmospheric sciences 202.1 218.9 229.9 5.0 Physics 195.9 193.3 217.5 12.5 Mathematical sciences 151.5 181.9 201.9 11.0 Astronomical sciences 166.0 161.3 183.1 13.5 Chemistry 162.8 160.8 181.7 13.0 Earth sciences 126.2 153.4 144.3 –5.9 Molecular & cellular biosciences 112.2 111.6 116.9 4.7 Environmental biology 101.1 99.8 104.8 5.0 Integrative biology & neurosciences 100.9 98.7 103.4 4.8 Plant genome research 75.0 75.0 75.0 0.0 Multidisciplinary activities 24.8 25.0 31.0 24.0 TOTAL $1,919.0 $2,018.0 $2,149.3 6.5% ... as total number of grants grows by 4.4% 2002a 2003b 2004c CHANGE 2003–04 Competitive awards Number 10,630 10,460 10,950 4.7% Funding rate 30% 31% 30% na Median annualized sized $84,290 $87,470 $91,060 4.1 Average annualized sized $115,710 $125,000 $128,000 2.4 Average duration, yearsd 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.0 Total number of awards 21,670 21,900 22,870 4.4% a Actual. b Requested. c Proposed. d Research grants only. na = not available. SOURCE: National Science Foundation

NIH. Following completion of the five-year initiative to double the NIH budget, the Administration is seeking a slim funding increase of 2% over fiscal 2003, bringing NIH's total budget to $27.9 billion.

While most of the institutes are expecting growth of 3 to 5%, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering is seeking a momentous 135% increase over fiscal 2003 numbers, bringing its funding up to $282 million. The National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases will also receive a larger than average increase of 8.8% for a total request of $4.3 billion. This includes $100 million to continue contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria.

AIDS research at NIH will also see an increase. This year, the budget will grow by $110 million for a total of $2.9 billion. Programs relating to diabetes and obesity will also get increases.

Biodefense research is another area that will see a significant increase. This year's budget requests a 117% increase in funding to $1.6 billion. Not included are intramural and extramural research facilities or one-time anthrax vaccine costs incurred in 2003.

NIH is also requesting an increase of $35 million within the Office of the Director for strategic road map initiatives. The funds will be used to "address critical roadblocks and knowledge gaps that currently constrain rapid progress in biomedical research." The three initiatives categories are new pathways to discovery, multidisciplinary research teams of the future, and reengineering the clinical research enterprise.

This year's budget will allow NIH to award 10,509 competing research project grants, increasing the number by 344 over 2003. Altogether, the total number of research projects for 2004 is an estimated 39,520, up 1,211, with funding expected to increase by 6.3% to $15.2 billion.

NIH Overall, institutes' growth slows to 2% $ MILLIONS 2002a 2003b 2004c CHANGE 2003–04 National Institutes $21,233 $24,561 $25,751 4.8% Cancer 4,178 4,673 4,771 2.1 Allergy & Infectious Diseases 2,340 3,984 4,335 8.8 Heart, Lung & Blood 2,570 2,779 2,868 3.2 General Medical Sciences 1,723 1,874 1,923 2.6 Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases 1,560 1,704 1,820 6.8 Neurological Disorders & Stroke 1,325 1,432 1,469 2.6 Mental Health 1,245 1,344 1,382 2.8 Child Health & Human Development 1,111 1,196 1,245 4.1 Drug Abuse 892 961 996 3.6 Aging 891 958 994 3.8 Environmental Health Sciences 645 685 710 3.6 Eye 580 626 648 3.5 Arthritis & Musculoskeletal & Skin Diseases 448 486 503 3.5 Human Genome Research 428 458 478 4.4 Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism 383 415 430 3.6 Dental & Craniofacial Research 342 370 382 3.2 Deafness & Other Communication Disorders 341 366 380 3.8 Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering 111 120 282 135.0 Nursing Research 120 130 135 3.8 National Center for Research Resources 1,010 1,090 1,054 –3.3 National Library of Medicine 276 308 316 2.6 Office of the Director 235 254 318 25.2 National Center for Minority Health & Health Disparities 158 186 193 3.8 National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine 104 113 116 2.7 Buildings & facilities 115 769 80 –89.6 Fogarty International Center 57 63 64 1.6 TOTAL $23,188 $27,344 $27,892 2.0% a Actual. b Requested. c Proposed. SOURCE: Office of Management & Budget

 

ENERGY. Department of Energy R&D funding moved up a brisk 6% in the President's 2004 budget request. The largest increases were for research on nuclear weapons and nonproliferation and for R&D to support select energy sources.

For the weapons program, R&D increases were sprinkled throughout the National Nuclear Security Administration budget, but for energy R&D, the budget proposed significant jumps on opposite ends of the spectrum.

At one end, coal and nuclear fuels, mature technologies that face significant problems to hold or expand their current energy role, benefited mightily.

At the other end, hydrogen, a new source with great potential yet few current applications, was also proposed for a big boost. Indeed, hydrogen R&D was the only bright spot in the department's renewable-energy budget portfolio.

To help put the R&D increase to $8.5 billion in perspective, the overall DOE budget also went up 6% to $23.4 billion. The biggest overall increase was $925 million for nuclear weapons and nonproliferation, to $8.8 billion, followed by nuclear weapons waste cleanup with an increase of $353 million, to a total of $8.0 billion.

DOE's Office of Science received a 1.4% increase to $3.3 billion. But Raymond Orbach, the office's director, figured the increase was actually 4.5%. He noted that construction was nearing an end at several labs, particularly the Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and now funds used for construction were shifting to operations. Hence, funding for science is on the rise.

Orbach pointed to a half dozen top R&D priorities for the office: rejoining the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) consortium; building a new generation of scientific computing systems; and moving ahead in genomic, climate change, and nanoscale science.

For nanotechnology R&D, he said, $64 million in new funds will bring the total to $196 million for 2004. In particular, the funds will help ramp up construction of nanotechnology research centers at five DOE labs.

Orbach stressed the labs' link, noting their proximity to the centers will allow nanoscale researchers to use the labs' powerful scientific instruments for real-time, in situ observations, while nanotechnology research continues on the atomic level.

Other areas emphasized by Orbach include a $24 million increase to $67 million for the "genomes to life" program to continue the molecular characterization project beyond mapping the human genome.

Orbach closed by noting a small $1 million increase in what he called "our attempt to get back into teaching." He proposed restarting a program dropped in the mid-1990s to bring elementary and high school teachers into DOE labs for short-term science education programs.

The pilot program will bring 60 teachers to Argonne National Lab in 2004. A study of similar science education programs by Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility showed overwhelming evidence that science test scores improved for students whose teachers had taken part in such programs, Orbach said.

Buried in the Science Office budget was $125 million for R&D projects to support environmental cleanups, staff said. Nearly all the funds are for molecular research activities conducted by the Biological & Environmental Research program.

"Very exciting" was William D. Magwood's description of the new budget for the Office of Nuclear Energy, which he directs. The Bush proposal will increase the nuclear science and technology budget by 18.6% to $387.6 million.

About $127 million is in strict R&D, a 41.6% increase over last year. This is a far cry from 1998 when DOE nuclear R&D spending barely topped $2 million. The biggest R&D increase, Magwood noted, is a 245% jump to $63 million for the "advanced fuel cycle initiative" to study spent nuclear fuel reprocessing.

For fossil energy, R&D increased 9% to $519 million. Most ($320.5 million) would be directed to the President's coal research initiative. In all, the Bush Administration seeks $367.5 million for coal research.

Fossil and nuclear research together with the Office of Science all got a piece of the President's new hydrogen agenda, announced in his State of the Union address. DOE officials say the department's hydrogen R&D budget will reach $103.5 million for 2004.

Some $4 million is earmarked for R&D on nuclear power systems to generate hydrogen, $5 million to produce hydrogen from coal, and some $11 million for Science Office hydrogen R&D.

Another $88 million would be spent by the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Office for vehicular fuel cells and hydrogen infrastructure. Hydrogen was the only energy R&D program not cut by the renewable energy office.

Another area cleaved by the Bush Administration is the Industries of the Future program, from $52.3 million to $24 million. Chemical companies are the largest sector of eight industrial sectors that receive cost-shared R&D grants to fund energy conservation demonstration projects through the program. The chemical industry support would be cut by more than half, from $14.4 million to $6.6 million.

 

ENERGY R&D funding jumps for nuclear, coal, hydrogen $ MILLIONS 2002a 2003b 2004c CHANGE 2003–04 Office of Science $3,309 $3,264 $3,311 1.4% High-energy & nuclear physics 1,048 1,107 1,127 1.8 Basic energy sciences 980 1,019 1,009 –1.0 Biological & environmental research 554 484 500 3.2 Fusion energy 241 257 257 0.0 Scientific computing research 150 167 173 4.2 Other 336 230 245 6.5 National Nuclear Security 2,414 2,438 2,564 5.2 Nuclear weapons 2,155 2,234 2,360 5.6 Nonproliferation 259 204 204 0.0 Energy Resources R&D 2,096 1,857 1,935 4.2 Energy conservation 572 552 520 –5.8 Fossil energy 578 479 519 9.4 Renewable energy 383 407 444 9.1 Nuclear energy 363 327 388 18.6 Environmental cleanup 200 92 64 –30.5 Other major accounts 237 517 725 nm TOTAL $8,056 $8,076 $8,535 6.0% a Actual. b Requested. c Proposed. nm = not meaningful. SOURCES: Department of Energy, Office of Management & Budget

DEFENSE. As usual, the Department of Defense gets the lion's share of research funds. But this total, $61.8 billion, is largely devoted to the development and testing of large weapons programs. More traditional R&D programs will receive only about $10.2 billion of this. And basic research will be cut this year by nearly 8% to just $1.3 billion, slightly less than was funded in 2002.

Congress has generally gone along with reductions in basic research at Defense over the past few years, wanting to see more applications of the research before approving additional funding. The Administration says areas of emphasis for R&D will include computing and communications, sensors, nanotechnology, and hypersonic propulsion systems.

Other priorities are mainly for major weapons or defensive programs. Among these is the continued development of intercepting ballistic missiles, developing high-speed interceptors, directed-energy technologies, and sea-based radars. Continued development and testing of the Joint Strike Fighter and of the Army's Future Combat System for a more mobile and effective fighting force are also priorities.

Research to address terrorist threats is also part of the Defense Department's work. Technologies to defend against chemical and biological agents are being developed. Some of these include improved detectors and sensors, troop protective gear that is lighter and more comfortable, and vaccines to protect against biological agents.

 

DEFENSE Basic and applied research is cut as big increase goes to development $ MILLIONS 2002a 2003b 2004c CHANGE 2003–04 Operational systems development $14,303 $18,656 $19,458 4.3% System development & demonstration 10,676 13,737 15,913 15.8 Advanced component development 10,125 10,754 13,197 22.7 Advanced technology development 4,430 5,067 5,253 3.7 Applied research 4,094 4,289 3,670 –14.4 RDT&E management support 3,646 3,106 3,028 –2.5 Basic research 1,350 1,417 1,309 –7.7 TOTAL $48,624 $57,026 $61,828 8.4% a Actual. b Estimate. c Proposed. RDT&E = research, development, testing, and evaluation. SOURCE: Department of Defense

HOMELAND SECURITY. Largely unknown still is just what the new Department of Homeland Security will be using for R&D facilities and management. But it does have a budget proposal for 2004.

The President has proposed $1 billion for R&D, which is a 32% increase in spending above what the agencies being incorporated into the new department would receive this year. Most research, about $800 million, will be done through the Science & Technology Directorate, which will assess the department's long-term needs, develop a strategic plan, and identify R&D goals and priorities. The department will fund research in the private sector, at universities, and at other government laboratories for development and production of advanced technology systems needed for homeland security.

EPA. The Environmental Protection Agency's R&D budget weathered a proposed 15% cut for 2003, a drop largely due to a one-time homeland security supplement in 2002 of $90 million for research related to the World Trade Center attack and anthrax incidents. EPA's fiscal 2004 request would bring the agency's research spending up to $731 million from the $670 million sought for 2003.

EPA Budget would recover from earlier cuts $ MILLIONS 2002a 2003b 2004c CHANGE 2003–04 Science $233 $255 $278 9.0% Clean air 161 175 177 1.1 Clean water 168 113 135 19.5 Global & cross-border risks 43 39 39 0.0 Preventing pollution 23 28 28 0.0 Waste management 21 16 20 25.0 Food safety 13 14 16 14.3 Right-to-know 12 9 15 66.7 Deterrence 63 11 13 18.2 Effective management 22 10 10 0.0 TOTAL $759 $670 $731 9.1% a Actual. Includes homeland security supplement. b Requested excludes carryover. c Proposed. SOURCE: Environmental Protection Agency

J. Paul Gilman, EPA assistant administrator for R&D and science adviser to agency chief Christine Todd Whitman, says the 2004 budget proposal would substantially increase efforts to update and expand a database important to chemical makers and regulators around the world. The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is a Web-based collection of data summaries on the potential health effects of more than 500 chemicals.

Gilman says the 2004 budget request would nearly quadruple funding for EPA's efforts on IRIS, up to $7 million from $1.8 million in 2003. On Feb. 5, the agency issued a list of more than 80 substances that it intends to update or add to IRIS in 2003 and 2004. These chemicals include acetaldehyde, ammonium perchlorate and other perchlorate salts, three isomers of dichlorobenzene, formaldehyde, methyl tert-butyl ether, perchloroethylene, styrene, and TCDD.

In addition, EPA is seeking $9 million for computational toxicology in 2004, up from the $3.2 million requested for 2003. This work involves use of microarrays to determine how exposure to a chemical affects gene function as well as computational techniques to extrapolate the results from a tested chemical to compounds with similar structure.

The 2004 budget proposal would restore the only federal program exclusively funding graduate students in environment-related studies--the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) fellowship--at $5 million for 2004, although the program got $10 million in 2002. Gilman says funds for STAR fellowships will come from funds now used for grants to individual investigators.

The Administration had cut the program from its 2003 request, but Congress reinserted it in legislative deliberations. The Senate bill to fund EPA for 2003 would provide about $5 million for STAR fellowships, and the House version of that measure includes $10 million for this program, according to Gilman. A Senate-House conference has yet to work out the final number.

The agency's R&D budget for air-pollution-related work includes an increase of $1.5 million over 2003. Nearly all of this is slated for new research related to President Bush's proposed Clear Skies Initiative to cut air pollution from electricity-generating plants, Gilman says. This research would focus on the environmental transport and fate of mercury, one of the three pollutants targeted in the Clear Skies Initiative, he adds.

Also, the 2004 R&D budget proposal for EPA includes $2.3 million in funding for the newly created Office of the Science Adviser. Headed by Gilman, this office will work on science issues that cut across all agency programs. These include peer review, improving computer models for projecting how pollutants move through the environment, and the new federal guidelines on information quality, Gilman says.

COMMERCE. "This is a wartime budget," Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology Phillip J. Bond said when presenting the technology portion of Commerce's 2004 budget. He explained that the budget "recognizes money is limited but research and innovation are vital to America's world leadership."

The primary scientific agencies within Commerce are the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). For the second year in a row, NIST is expected to take a hit, with a 12% drop in its budget from 2003 for a total of $496 million.

The biggest casualty for NIST is the termination of the Advanced Technology Program, which provides cost-shared funding to industry for high-risk R&D. The budget includes just $27 million to cover administrative expenses for ending the program.

Funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program at NIST will remain flat at $12.6 million. MEP is an effort to improve technology used in smaller businesses. The Administration proposed a cut in funds for 2003 in accordance with a planned phaseout of MEP, and the fiscal 2004 request will be used to support two centers.

The case is only slightly better for the laboratories at NIST. Although the overall funding request is down nearly 1% from 2003, to $381 million, all but one major area of activity will see an increase in funding. One new initiative is funding related to homeland security. A request of $10.3 million will go to support measurements and infrastructure in nuclear, radiological, biowarfare, and other terrorism-related areas; learning from the World Trade Center collapse; and biometric identification systems.

The 2004 budget for NOAA is $3.3 billion, up nearly 6% from 2003. The funding contains an $81.7 million increase to continue to develop and operate NOAA's National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System and its Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite program. An additional $3.5 million is requested to enhance the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's supercomputing capability.

Also seeking funding are the Marine Transportation System projects ($6.5 million) and ocean-observing systems ($6.3 million). And, to aid in homeland security, the 2004 budget calls for a $5.5 million increase in funds to support a scaled upgrade of the current NOAA weather radio operations to an all-hazards warning network, which would receive and disseminate chemical and biological messages.

 

NIST Advanced Technology Program takes major cut $ MILLIONS 2002a 2003b 2004b CHANGE 2003–04 Laboratory programs by major activity $324.7 $383.8 $380.7 –0.8% Materials science & engineering 58.5 65.2 66.3 1.7 Computer science & applied math 55.5 54.3 57.2 5.4 Physics 34.0 38.0 54.0 42.0 Research support activities 41.7 85.6 52.9 –38.2 Electronics & electrical engineering 41.3 42.7 44.1 3.3 Chemical science & technology 35.7 40.0 42.3 5.7 Building & fire research 20.0 18.6 23.2 24.8 Manufacturing engineering 20.4 21.1 21.8 3.3 Technology assistance 17.7 18.3 18.9 3.3 Construction of research facilities 63.6 54.2 69.6 28.4 Advanced Technology Program 184.5 107.0 27.0 –74.8 Manufacturing Extension Partnership 106.5 12.6 12.6 0.0 Baldrige National Quality Program 5.2 5.5 5.8 5.5 TOTAL $684.5 $563.1 $495.7 –12.0% a Actual. b Proposed. SOURCE: Department of Commerce

AGRICULTURE. Continuing a trend begun last year, the Department of Agriculture's research budget would fall 2% from $2.34 billion proposed for 2003 to $2.31 billion in 2004.

Most of the decline stems from a cut in funds for the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA's principal in-house research agency in natural and biological sciences. The ARS budget would fall $32 million, or 3%, from the 2003 proposal to $1.03 billion for 2004. However, the decrease results from the elimination of a homeland security supplement of $73 million included in the 2003 budget proposal. That research will now be done at the Department of Homeland Security. The research and information component of the 2004 ARS budget actually increases by $29 million over the proposed 2003 budget.

ARS's 2003 budget zeroed out all projects earmarked by Congress in fiscal years 2001 and 2002--projects with total funding of $89 million. The 2004 budget repeats that exercise. For the most part, the 2004 budget extends proposals made for 2003.

The research areas that will be given high priority at ARS include research to provide technical assistance and education to farmers in conserving soil, water, and air resources; pest and disease management in plants through use of biologically based technologies; plant genome mapping; disease prevention in animals; food quality and safety; development of new food and industrial uses for agricultural commodities; elimination of barriers to the export of agricultural commodities; and development of production systems that are sustainable and environmentally benign. An increase of $8.3 million is provided for emerging diseases and biosecurity.

Forest and rangeland research conducted by USDA's Forest Service would get a $9 million increase over the amount proposed for 2003, to $243 million. The budget includes increases of $2.5 million for research on sudden oak death, a fungus disease; $2 million for bio-based products; $4.1 million for research on invasive species; and $3 million for fire research.

NASA. According to OMB's figures, the National Aeronautics & Space Administration's total R&D budget would rise to $11.0 billion, an increase of 9% over the $10.1 billion proposed for 2003.

However, two factors make it impossible to give a realistic estimate of how much NASA's budget actually will increase. First, Congress has not yet passed NASA's budget for 2003 and may make large changes in the budget. Second, Congress may also make major adjustments in the 2004 budget as a result of the Feb. 1 space shuttle Columbia tragedy. After the Challenger accident 17 years ago, Congress increased NASA's budget considerably.

Moreover, several factors make it impossible to compare 2004 budget figures for specific programs with the R&D numbers for 2003. This year, NASA totally restructured its budget to reflect its strategic plan, adding two new accounts--Science, Aeronautics & Exploration and Space Flight Capabilities--which partially overlap with programs existing in 2003. Also, it revamped its budget to reflect the full cost of each project, including the cost of personnel and facilities. At press time, NASA had not yet produced a breakdown of its budget figures that would allow meaningful comparisons between program levels proposed for 2003 and those for 2004. As might be expected, NASA's budget briefing scheduled for Feb. 3 was canceled; a new briefing date has not been set.

NASA's budget for 2004 adheres to several strict criteria. Every project must be relevant to one or more goals stated in the agency's strategic plan. Human space flight will be expanded only as a means of exploration, research, and discovery. Technology developments must have broad applications. Education and inspiration must be an integral part of all programs. And NASA must pursue activities unique to its mission.

In fiscal 2004, NASA will begin several new R&D programs. These include climate-change research targeted at high-priority policy issues; new aeronautics technologies to enable safer, quieter, and more efficient air travel; communications technologies using laser light instead of radio waves to transmit information; nuclear propulsion systems to be demonstrated on a trip to Jupiter's moons; research into the human factors of space travel that will enable safe human exploration beyond Earth; and education programs to expand the number of students pursuing science and engineering careers.

THE BUDGET PROCESS. The President's budget for fiscal 2004 now goes to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, where it will be divided into 13 appropriations bills. Hearings will be held on each by various subcommittees, and legislation will emerge that sets the levels of spending for all federal departments and agencies. The numbers approved by Congress may be very different from those originally proposed by the Administration, but historically R&D has not been radically changed. The whole process is supposed to be completed and the bills signed by the President by Sept. 30, the last day of fiscal 2003.

Chemical & Engineering News
Copyright © 2003 American Chemical Society