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ES&T News
NSF sees a small increase
U.S. Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Proposals
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is the one bright spot in the current era of fiscal conservatism. President Bush is requesting $6.02 billion for FY ’07, a 7.9% increase over what Congress appropriated last year. Areas tagged for improved funding are the U.S. Arctic Research Program (14.8%) and cyber infrastructure (43.5% to $182 million). The biggest overall increase in the NSF request would go to the construction of major research equipment and facilities, which would get $49.8 million more than last year, or a 26% increase.
The president’s request focuses on increases in R&D in the physical sciences as part of his American Competitiveness Initiative, designed to strengthen the U.S.’s ability to compete globally. NSF is one of three agencies to benefit, reports the American Association for the Advancement of Science in its annual budget survey. NSF funds about 40% of the country’s academic basic research, with most of the money awarded as competitive grants. The main account that funds these activities—Research and Related Activities—would climb 7.7% to $4.7 billion. The Office of Polar Programs would see a 12.5% increase to $438 million, with much of the money going to fund more research and increased logistic costs of polar research.
But funding for several environmental directorates—including mathematical and physical sciences; geosciences; biological sciences; and social, behavioral, and economic sciences—would remain below 2004 funding levels in Bush’s request. Overall, R&D at NSF would slightly surpass inflation-adjusted levels from the 2004 budget.
House Committee on Science Chairperson Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) says he believes that the education programs at NSF “are continuing to get short shrift.” Boehlert was referring to the proposed cuts to the Math and Science Program (MSP) budget, which has been on the decline in the past three budgets. The program supports partnerships between university faculty and K-12 instructors who develop curricula with an emphasis on science and math. For FY ’07, Bush is requesting only $46 million for MSP, a cut of $16 million from 2006.
The nonprofit National Center for Science Education points out that NSF’s budget has been shrinking over the past 3 years. Even with the proposed increases, the budget would still fall well below that approved in the NSF Authorization Act of 2002, which called for a doubling of the agency’s budget in 5 years to a total of $9.8 billion in 2007.
