Observations on the President's Fiscal Year 2003 Federal Science and Technology Budget (2002) / Chapter Skim
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The second section summarizes the President's FS&T budget proposal for FY 2003. It also provides a review of an NRC report on science and technology for countering terrorism, published since the President's budget release, that offers important recommendations for long-term funding of S&T programs as they relate to counterterrorism activities.
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~ The National Science Board, in a recent review of the process for allocating resources for federally funded research entitled Federal Research Resources: A Process for Setting Priorities, echoed these goals by recommending that this process "place a priority on investments in areas that advance important national goals, identify areas ready to benefit from greater investment, address long-term needs and opportunities for federal missions and responsibilities, and ensure world-class fundamental science and engineering capabilities across the frontiers of knowledge."3 Both National Goals and Federal Research Resources recommended assessing the performance of U.S. research in a major field compared with research undertaken by scientists in other countries, a task known as international benchmarking.
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Unlike the R&D budget, it is comprised of identifiable line items in the budget, permitting easy tracking through the Congressional Appropriations process. The list of programs in OMB's tabulation of the FS&T budget can be found in Tables 1 and 2.6 THE PRESIDENT'S FY 2003 FEDERAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BUDGET The Administration based its overall budget proposal for FY 2003 on four overarching programmatic, fiscal, and managerial priorities: funding the war against terrorism at home and overseas; stimulating the economy to foster job creation; providing increases for high-prior~ty initiatives while moderating growth in the rest of government; and reforming the budget to focus on results instead of dollars spent.
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7Details of the Administration's Federal Science and Technology Budget proposal can be found in Chapter 8, "Research and Development," in U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2003: Analytical Perspectives, Washington, D.C.: U.S.
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Although large percentage increases are slated for each of these areas, the absolute increase of $3.4 billion for NIH dwarfs the dollar increases of all other areas combined that are slated for growth.~° The President's Proposal for FS&T in Other Agencies Although the Administration proposes substantial increases for its high-prior~ty initiatives, it would moderate growth or cut budgets in other areas of science and technology. This can be seen both in the budget proposals for individual agencies and in the aggregate by contrasting the proposed increase for NIH with the proposed increase in total FS&T for other agencies.
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Funding for Networking and Information Technology R&D, a cross-cutting initiative carried out by seven federal agencies, would be relatively flat, increasing by $13 million, or 0.7 percent, in constant FY 2002 dollars, to $1.86 billion. The Administration designated this R&D initiative a priority area for FY 2003, and, as with nanotechnology and climate change research, the National Academies has described the need for expanding research in information technology to meet societal goals, including research funded by the federal government.
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Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism Since the tragic events of September 1 1, 2001, the science and engineering community has sought to contribute its technological expertise to near- and long-term solutions to problems associated with countering terrorism and i2National Science Foundation/Division of Science Resources Studies, Federal Funds for Research and Development: Fiscal Years 1999, 2000, 2001, Volume 49 (NSF 01-328) , Arlington, Va.: National Science Foundation, 2001, Tables C-29 and C-40.
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Accordingly, Making the Nation Safer outlines the potential impact of science and technology research in seven cross-cutting areas systems analysis and modeling, integrated data management, sensors and sensor networks, robotic technologies, SCADA systems, biometrics, and human factors—on counterterrorism efforts. Importantly, the report goes on to argue "the realization of this potential will depend on a program of directed basic and applied research and will require an expansion and coordination of existing S&Tprograms andfunding if the government's work is to produce effective tools for countering terrorism and ensuring homeland security." (emphasis added Further, the report notes that, in addition to the current level of effort being "too small," a "balance of investments is critical, across different time horizons as well as across numerous disciplines.
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In this vein, Congress should also give careful consideration to the role and Finding of science and technology in the proposed Department of Homeland Security. OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESIDENT'S FS&T BUDGET PROPOSAL The nation should continue to invest in science and technology at a level and in a pattern that would allow science and engineering to contribute to agency missions, address important national goals across agencies, and sustain our global competitiveness and leadership in science now and in the future.
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Because resources are limited, care must also be taken to ensure that federally funded research focused on national needs and goals is the very best research. In the analytical chapter on research and development in its budget proposal this year, the Administration identifies Finding for research projects undertaken at "congressional direction" (i.e., through congressional earmarks)
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Slightly more than 30 years separated the "emergence of an esoteric and apparently useless field of scientific study from its enormous everyday impact."28 An oft-cited example of how research in the physical sciences led, over a winding and uncertain road, to an important medical breakthrough is the story of how equally esoteric research in quantum mechanics later led to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
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A recent analysis of federal financial support for research by field concluded that the current system for allocating resources neither systematically analyzes the long-term effects of funding trends by field nor ensures that national priorities are taken into account. This report, Trends in Federal Support of Research and Graduate Education, states: The current system for allocating research finding does not necessarily ensure that national pnor~ties are taken into account.
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The analysis should then determine how much funding the federal government should provide by field, taking into account industry funding, positive externalities and uncertainties of research, desired leadership status, and the results of international comparisons.32 Given this, farther analyses of adequacy in support, such as time series analyses of Finding trends by field or international benchmarking, are therefore warranted for a number of fields, particularly certain fields in the physical sciences and engineering whose funding was cut in the 1 990s and may be cut again under current budget proposals. (See Appendix A for a description research funding trends by field for the period 1993 to 1999.)
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FS&T Spending and Human Resources To maintain world-class status in science and engineering fields, allowing us to capitalize on opportunities and rise to new challenges, it is important to maintain a world-class cadre of scientists and engineers across these fields. Historically, funding for university research has been critical to this because of the strong linkage in the American science and engineering enterprise between research funding and human resources development, particularly graduate education.
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colleges and universities in physics and mathematics, 1993-2000. Source: National Science Foundation/Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates g
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As in the recent past, the task of preparing a balanced portfolio on federal investments in science and technology for the coming year has been left to Congressional appropriators. Since the late l990s, advocates for increased funding for NIH have generally also urged increased federal funding across science and engineering.
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QUALITY, RELEVANCE, AND LEADERSHIP In the meantime, an overarching priority for the Administration in the FY 2003 budget is to begin a process for linking budgeting and investment decisions to management practices and results. Every department or agencyincluding federal science agencies has been evaluated in this budget proposal through the lens of the President's Management Agenda.
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CONCLUSION The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has developed an effective approach for conceptualizing and tabulating federal investments in science and technology across the federal government the Federal Science and Technology Budget—that is consistent with a process for managing and targeting federal funding for science and technology programs across federal agencies that the NRC outlined in Allocating Federal Funds for Science and Technology.
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The Administration and Congress should revisit the FS&T budget proposals as well, in light of the recommendations of Making the Nation Safer. This report outlines the potential impact of science and technology research in seven cross-cutting areas and argues "the realization of this potential will depend on a program of directed basic and applied research and will require an expansion and coordination of existing S&Tprograms andfunding if the government's work is to produce effective tools for countering terrorism and ensuring homeland security." (emphasis added)
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FS&T Spending and Human Resources To maintain world-class status in sciences and engineering fields, allowing us to capitalize on opportunities and rise to new challenges, it is important to maintain a worldclass cadre of scientists and engineers across these fields. Historically, funding for university research has been critical to this because of the strong linkage in the American science and engineering enterprise between research funding and human resources development, particularly graduate education.
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Tables .
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Budget Action for FY 2003 and FY 2004 in the short run, the Administration and Congress must address questions of both priority anti adequacy for FY 2003 and the upcoming FY 2004 budget cycle. The Aciministration's FS&T budget proposal for FY 2003 addresses issues of priority.
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National Institutes of Health 17,827 20,438 23,433 27,335 14.7% 16.7% NASA 7,013 7,789 8,113 8,774 4.2% 8.1 % Space Science 2,606 2,760 3,034 3,428 9.9% 13.0% Earth Science 1,734 1,825 1,695 1,639 -7.1% -3.3% Biological and Physical Research 839 944 828 851 -12.3% 2.8% Aero-space technology 1,834 2,260 2,556 2,856 13.1% 11.7% National Science Foundation 3,903 4,437 4,795 5,036 8.1% 5.0% Dept. of Energy 4,338 4,911 5,099 5,027 3.8% -1.4% Science Programs 2,820 3,218 3,240 3,285 0.7% 1.4% Renewable Energy 306 370 386 408 4.3% 5.7% Nuclear Energy 226 261 244 251 -6.5% 2.9% Energy Conservation 577 619 641 589 3.6% -8.1% Fossil Energy R&D 409 443 588 494 32.7% -16.0% Dept.
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of Veterans Affairs 336 371 373 402 0.5% 7.7% FS&T Total 44,927 49,201 52,340 55,979 6.4% 7.0% NIH 18,640 20,887 23,433 26,852 12.2% 14.6% FS&T Total minus NIH 26,287 28,314 28,907 29,128 2.1% 0.8% NIH as percentage of FS&T Total 41.5% 42.5% 44.8% 48.0% Source: Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2003 Note: Deflators used to convert current dollar to constant FY 2002 dollars are derived from the GDP (chained) price index in Table 10.1, in U.S.
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DOT Aviation Research 26.3% 15.1% 11.0% 9.8% 7.0% 3.8% 1.0% 1.0% 0.8% 0.6% 0.2% 0.0% -0.4% -0.6% -1.8% -1.8% -2.1% -2.8% -5.0% -5.5% -6.5% -7.7% -9.7% -17.5% -19.4% -38.5% Source: Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2003 Note: Deflators used to convert current dollar to constant FY 2002 dollars are derived from the GDP (chained) price index in Table 10.1, in U.S.
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Global Change Research Program and the proposed Climate Change Research Initiative. Source: Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2003 Note: Deflators used to convert current dollar to constant FY 2002 dollars are derived from the GDP (chained)
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of Veterans Affairs 363 360 -0.8% 373 2.8% FS&T Total 48,143 49,588 3.0% 52,340 8.7% NIH 20,438 23,112 13.1% 23,433 14.7% FS&TTotal minus NIH 27,705 26,476 - .4% 28,907 4.3% Source: Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2003 Note: Deflators used to convert current dollar to constant FY 2002 dollars are derived from the GDP (chained) price index in Table 10.1, in U.S.
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