The Trump Administration budget request would cut federal spending on research and development in every major agency except for the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs, the Congressional Research Service said yesterday in a new report.
“Nearly every federal agency would see its R&D funding decrease under the President’s FY2018 request compared to their FY2016 levels,” the CRS report said.
“The largest declines (as measured in dollars) would occur in the budgets of HHS (down $6.099 billion, 18.9%), DOE (down $1.809 billion, 11.9%), USDA (down $666 million, 25.1%), NSF (down $639 million, 10.6%), and the EPA (down $239 million, 46.3%).”
Federal R&D is generally understood to provide support for scientific, medical, military and other research of economic, social, security or other value that would not normally be undertaken by the private sector. Reducing R&D therefore means foregoing the benefits that might otherwise accrue from such investment.
CRS noted that the Trump budget request is “largely silent” on funding for existing multiagency R&D initiatives such as the National Nanotechnology Initiative, Networking and Information Technology Research and Development program, U.S. Global Change Research Program, Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative, Precision Medicine Initiative, Cancer Moonshot, Materials Genome Initiative, National Robotics Initiative, and National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. The future of these programs, some of which have a statutory basis, is left uncertain in the Administration budget request.
However, the budget request is the first word, not the last word, in the budgeting process.
“Congress may opt to agree with none, part, or all of the request, and it may express different priorities through the appropriations process,” CRS said. “In particular, Congress will play a central role in determining the allocation of the federal R&D investment in a period of intense pressure on discretionary spending.”
See Federal Research and Development Funding: FY2018, July 31, 2017.
Other new or updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.
Bail: An Overview of Federal Criminal Law, updated July 31, 2017
The Federal Communications Commission: Current Structure and Its Role in the Changing Telecommunications Landscape, updated July 28, 2017
Ongoing Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Investigations, CRS Insight, July 28, 2017
In Brief: Highlights of FY2018 Defense Appropriations Actions, July 31, 2017
NAFTA and Motor Vehicle Trade, July 28, 2017
Rwanda’s August 4 Presidential Election, CRS Insight, July 31, 2017
Honduras: Background and U.S. Relations, updated July 28, 2017
U.S. Petroleum Trade with Venezuela: Financial and Economic Considerations Associated with Possible Sanctions, CRS Insight, July 27, 2017
Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy, updated July 24, 2017
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