President Bush Proposes to Double the National Science Foundation Budget

President George Bush is proposing to double the budget of the National Science Foundation (NSF) over the next ten years.  As the first step in the doubling process, the President's budget request would increase funding for the National Science Foundation by $439 million or 7.9 percent to $6.02 billion in fiscal year 2007.
 
"This is a great day for NSF, and that means it's a great day for the nation," said NSF Director Arden L. Bement, Jr.  "There has been a lot of rhetoric about doubling the NSF budget, but now the Administration is behind it.  The FY 2007 Budget Request is the first installment.  We are grateful to the Administration for its recognition and leadership," Bement continued. 

The proposal to double the NSF budget is part of the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), which President Bush announced in his State of the Union address and reinforced in his FY 2007 budget request to Congress.  Reflecting its focus on the physical sciences, the American Competitiveness Initiative would double the sum of the budgets of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science, the National Institute for Standards and Technology's (NIST) core research programs, and the National Science Foundation. 

Noting that most of the increase in federal funding for research and development since 2001 has gone toward biomedical research and advanced security technologies, President Bush wrote, "To ensure our continued leadership in the world, I am committed to building on our record of results with new investments - especially in the fields of physical sciences and engineering."

In response to a question from NCSE, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director John Marburger said that the National Science Foundation will have considerable latitude in allocating its new funding across all scientific disciplines, rather than focusing only on the physical sciences.  Moreover, the definition of "physical sciences" appears to include some geoscience programs.  An OSTP table of "selected civilian physical sciences-related programs" includes NSF's Geosciences Directorate and NOAA's Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. 

Even if Congress approves the President's request to increase the NSF budget by 7.9 percent in FY 2007, the NSF budget would still be slightly below the FY 2004 funding level in real dollars (after accounting for inflation), according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  However, NSF funding for R&D (excluding education, training, and overhead costs) would reach a record level in real dollars after falling in FY 2005 and 2006. 

The President's FY 2007 budget request for the National Science Foundation would boost funding for Research and Related Activities by 7.7 percent or $334.5 million to $4.666 billion.  Funding for Education and Human Resources would increase by 2.5 percent or $19.5 million to $816.2 million.  Investments in Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction would increase by 26.0 percent or $49.6 million to $240.5 million. 

The 7.7 percent increase proposed for NSF's Research and Related Activities account would benefit all scientific disciplines.  Among the major disciplinary directorates, the Biological Sciences Directorate would receive the smallest increase (5.4 percent), the Geosciences Directorate would increase by 6.0 percent, and the Engineering Directorate would receive the largest increase (8.2 percent).  Funding for the U.S. Polar Research Programs would increase by 12.5 percent reflecting the buildup to the International Polar Year (2007-2008). 

After adjusting for inflation, funding for the Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Geosciences, Biological Sciences, and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences directorates would remain below their FY 2004 funding levels even if the FY 2007 increases are approved by Congress, while the computer sciences, polar, and engineering directorates would reach record highs in real dollars.

NSF's priority area in Biocomplexity in the Environment is being phased out, and FY 2007 is the final year of this highly successful initiative.  NSF will continue to support interdisciplinary studies of this type within the structure of its regular programs.  After FY 2007, this research portfolio will be referred to as Complexity in Environmental Systems.  In FY 2007, funding for Biocomplexity in the Environment will decline to $42.6 million, a cut of $40.8 million or 48.9 percent compared to FY 2006.  Three primary areas that will be supported in FY 2007 are Carbon and Water in Earth Systems; Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems; and Materials Use: Science, Engineering and Society.  It is anticipated that these three areas will continue as independent programs in the future after the BE priority area ends in FY 2007. 

NSF's Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MFEFC) account contains several projects that will advance the environmental sciences.  The FY 2007 budget request contains $12.0 million in the MREFC account for initial implementation of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and an additional $11.9 million in other accounts for NEON concept and development activities. 

The budget request for NSF's Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account also contains $27.4 million for EarthScope, $42.9 million for the Scientific Ocean Drilling Vessel, and $9.1 million for the South Pole Station Modernization project.  Two new starts in the MREFC account are the Alaska Region Research Vessel ($56.0 million) and the Ocean Observatories Initiative ($13.5 million), both of which help fulfill the Administration's 2004 U.S. Ocean Action Plan, developed in response to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. 

The National Science Foundation budget request for FY 2007 has received praise from members of Congress.  Legislation is being introduced to implement the American Competitiveness Initiative as well as recommendations in related reports by the National Academy of Sciences and other organizations. 

Optimism about the current proposal to double the NSF budget in ten years is tempered by the failure of recent legislation to double the NSF budget in five years.  The National Science Authorization Act of 2002, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush, called for a doubling of the NSF budget from FY 2002 to FY 2007.  The annual appropriations bills have fallen far short of the doubling path specified in the NSF Authorization Act.  The FY 2007 budget request for NSF is nearly $4 billion below the level authorized in the last doubling initiative.  However, the current doubling initiative has been given a high priority in the President's budget request and has strong support from key members of Congress. 

Craig M. Schiffries, Ph.D.
Director of Science Policy
National Council for Science and the Environment