SPECIAL ISSUE:

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PRESIDENT'S
FY 2004 FEDERAL S&T BUDGET REQUEST

On Feb. 3, President Bush released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 budget request to Congress, including the requests for support of science and technology-related programs of the federal departments and agencies. The budget requests $122.7 billion in federal research and development spending authority, a 7% increase over the levels requested by the White House in FY 2003 (although actual FY 2003 levels are still pending in Congress).

Broken down by area of research, the budget requests $27.1 billion for defense and civilian basic research (up 5%), $26.8 billion for applied research (up 2%), $64.4 billion for development (up 2%) and $4.5 billion for facilities and equipment (down 6%).

The complete budget request is available on-line from the President's Office of Management and Budget at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2004/ or http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/usbudget/budget-fy2004/

Following are brief highlights and links to budget documents highlighting the President's S&T priorities and specific R&D budget requests for selected agencies. Increases are typically reported in comparison to the President's FY 2003 budget request, since much of the final FY 2003 budget is still before Congress.

CROSS-CUTTING FEDERAL S&T PRIORITIES

OSTP Summaries: http://www.ostp.gov/html/budget/2004/2004.html

• Climate Change (Up 355% to $182 million)
• Combating Terrorism ($3.2 billion for homeland security/infrastructure protection R&D)
• K-12 Initiatives ($212.5 million for K-12 math/science partnerships)
• Networking and IT (Up 6% to $2.2 billion)
• Nanotechnology (Up 9.5% to $847 million)
• Physical Sciences (Key investments at NSF, NASA, DOE)
• Promoting Innovation ($123 million in Federal R&D, call for permanent R&D tax credit, and $70 million to improve patent process)

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Press Release: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2003/b02032003_bt044-03.html
Budget Information: http://www.dtic.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2004/
RDT&E (R-1) Summary: http://www.dtic.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2004/fy2004_r1.pdf

• $61.8 billion (up $5 billion) for Research, Development, Test & Evaluation
• Basic Research - $1.3 billion (down 8%)
• Applied Research - $3.7 billion (down 14%)
• Adv. Technology Development - $5.3 billion (up from $5 billion)
• Adv. Development/Prototypes - $13.2 billion (up from $10.8 billion)
• $7.7 billion for missile defense
• $2.95 billion for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• $24.3 billion for "transforming military capabilities" through R&D and procurement, with strong IT/communications emphasis

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Press Release: http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases03/febpr/pr03027.htm
Budget Information: http://www.mbe.doe.gov/budget/04budget/

• $2.5 billion for energy-related research
• $751 million for advanced simulation/computing
• $467 million for fusion research
• $350 million for FreedomCar/Freedom Fuel (hydrogen fuel cell R&D)
• $3.3 billion for Office of Science programs

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Budget Information: http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=12

• $803 million for new S&T Directorate
• $200 million in R&D at other DHS Directorates

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Budget Summary: http://www.nasa.gov/about/budget/content/FY_2004_Budget_Highlights.pdf Budget Information: http://www.nasa.gov/about/budget/

• $15.5 billion (up 3.1%) for overall budget
• $4 billion for space science
• $31 million for new optical communications initiative
• $959 million for aeronautics R&D
• $1.06 billion for Space Launch Initiative ($550 million for orbital space plane and $515 million for next generation launch technology)
• $233 million for computing, information, and communications technology

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

Budget Summary: http://www.nih.gov/news/budgetfy2004/fy2004presidentsbudget.pdf

• Up 1.8% overall
• $1.6 billion for biodefense
• $280 million for Biomedical Imaging/Bioengineering

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

Press Release: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/budget_2004.htm
Budget Highlights: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/budget/2004budgethighlights.htm

• $381 million for NIST labs
• $27 million for new homeland security, biometrics, nanotechnology measurements initiatives
• Termination of Advanced Technology Program
• Phase-out of Manufacturing Extension Partnerships

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Press Release: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s1089.htm
Budget Request: http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/budget2004/

• Up 6% over FY 2003 request ($3.3 billion)

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Press Release: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr0317.htm
Budget Request: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/bud/fy2004/toc.htm

• $5.48 billion overall budget (up 9%)
• $4.1 billion for research/related activities (up 8.5%)
• $303 million for IT Research (up 6%)
• $249 million for nanoscale science & engineering (up 13%)
• $215 million for graduate fellowships/traineeships (up 22%)
• $20 million for new cyberinfrastructure initiative

A more detailed assessment of electrical/electronics engineering and computer science/IT in the President's budget request is being developed and will be available in March. For future information and analysis on the President's FY 2004 budget request, also see the AAAS R&D Budget Policy Project at: http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/

Responses to the President's budget Proposal:

• Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), chair of the House Science Committee
• Democratic Members of the House Science Committee

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