Considering how bad it could have been, science didn’t fare all that poorly in the budget bill that President Obama signed on December 23. Not, at least if you factor in the constraints on discretionary spending imposed by the Budget Control Act and look at the results in the aggregate. But it’s still little reason to break out the champagne. And if the result hints at a long-term pattern the news is none-too-good for the investment needed to build American’s science and technology future.
Here are some examples of S&T budgeting that give a flavor of short-term ups and downs.
Increases over 2011 appropriations were claimed by the Department of Energy’s research wing ARPA-E, which receives $275 million, up from $180 million last year. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs receive $1.8 billion, 1.6 percent above ’11. These are all far short of the president’s requests but still not horrible The DOE’s Office of Science gets a one percent increase at $4.9 billion, and Basic Energy Sciences within the office receives $1.7 billion, a small increase.
To read the full, original article click on this link: A Sort of Happy New Year for the New Science Budget
