GOVERNMENT

Total Federal R&D Funding To Continue With Steady Erosion Of Recent Years

Budget documents for fiscal 1997 show uncertainties, but do not foretell a precipitous collapse, at least not yet

David J. Hanson, Bette Hileman, Wil Lepkowski, Janice Long, and Linda Ross Raber, C&EN Washington

For chemists and other scientists long anxious about the outlook for their federal funding, it has been a strange and worrisome budget season in the nation's

capital. And it is getting stranger by the week. Congress and the Administration have yet to agree on final fiscal 1996 budgets for some key agencies—several of them major sup­porters of research and development.

Yet, as required by law, President Clinton has come up with a proposed budget for fiscal 1997. It was presented to Congress on March 18. As with all such presidential bud­getary proposals, it is largely a policy statement. But it does provide a starting point for the process of govern­ment funding for R&D and everything else.

Also, as with all such budget proposals, the Office of Man­agement & Budget (OMB)-prepared documents support­ing it are voluminous, mas­sively detailed, and singularly confusing, especially concern­ing R&D. However, the bot­tom line seems to be that to­tal federal R&D spending, both defense and civilian, will continue with the gradu­al constant-dollar decline that has been under way since 1993.

The actual figures indicate that current-dollar funding for conducting research in fiscal 1996 will reach an estimated $69.2 billion. This will be up 0.5% from an actual $68.9 billion in fiscal 1995. For fiscal 1997, the plan is for a $69.9 billion budget. This would be a year-to-year gain of 1.5%, still some­what shy of the inflation rate. For basic research, the increase for 1997 would be 2.0%, to $14.3 billion, about the same in­crease as the estimated 1.7% gain for fiscal 1996 over 1995. Additional funding for R&D facilities and equipment is put at $2.77 billion for 1997, up 24% from the estimated 1996 level.

These figures likely represent the best case scenario for R&D funding in light of the uncertainties and controversies surrounding all funding decisions these days. Things could turn out considerably worse for scientists in 1997.

One of the uncertainties in R&D funding for 1997 is not knowing accurately what funding will be for 1996. Six months into the fiscal year, about 20% of the total R&D budget has yet to be agreed upon. And one of the agencies still without a budget is the National Science Foundation, a funding source critical to the chemical community.

At a briefing on the new R&D budget, Office of Science & Technology Director John H. Gibbons called this the "most hostile budgetary and political environment since OSTP was created [in 1976]." And the worst is yet to come. Gibbons pre diets that the "toughest budget time will come at the millen­nium," as the Administration and Congress work to fulfill their pledges to achieving a balanced budget by fiscal 2002. In

the not-too-distant future, sci­entists may look back on to­day as a golden age for re­search funding.

Adding to the uncertainty of the proposed total of $72.7 billion for R&D in 1997 is that a substantial part of the $1.23 billion increase over 1996 would come from restoration of major research funding cuts from several agencies-including the Departments of Commerce and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency—in 1996. These cuts came after protracted and bit­ter controversy. Reversing them will be far from easy,

because they involve very strongly held and conflicting beliefs across the political aisle.

Of course, what happens at the November national elec­tions brings more uncertainty to predictions of 1997 R&D funding. For example, a change at the White House could dim prospects for environmental research and for civilian development programs. The opposite would likely happen in the event Democrats regain the House and Senate.

Whatever happens in November, the science community has its work cut out for it. As Gibbons noted, R&D funding agencies have had to do a lot of prioritizing and cutting within their own programs.

National Science Foundation. Though NSF is one of the major bright spots in the fiscal 1997 science and technology budget, it still will have to cut some programs. Its proposed

20 APRIL 1,1996 C&EN

Glossary of budget terms Budget authority. The authority provided by federal law enacted by Congress to incur financial obligations that will result in outlays.

Fiscal year. The fiscal year is the government's account­ing period. It begins Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30 and is des­ignated by the calendar year in which it ends.

Obligations. Binding agreements that will result in outlays, immediately or in the future. Budgetary authority must be available before obligations can be incurred legally.

Outlays. Payments for obligations incurred under con-gressionally granted budget authority generally made by issuance of checks on the Treasury. Outlays during any fiscal year may be made for obligations incurred in prior fiscal years or in the same fiscal year.

Consistency in tables: Because the complexity of research and development spending creates differences in the way agencies calculate their budgets, the R&D numbers sup­plied by individual agencies frequently differ from those used by the Office of Management & Budget in preparing its analysis of total federal R&D spending.

budget rises 4% from the estimated fiscal 1996 figure of $3.18 billion, to $3.32 billion for fiscal 1997. At a briefing on the proposed budget, NSF Director Neal F. Lane said it re­flects "a truly revolutionary era of discovery and progress in research and education," opening fields of research to the "staggering" potentials of the world of nature and the world shaped by humankind.

Science has been moving so fast, Lane said in his opening remarks, that it is in danger—in today's rough budgetary times—of losing its "muscle." So, he said, NSF's $3.32 bil­lion proposal is structured "to keep the U.S. at the cutting edge of science and engineering across the board."

Lane said NSF had to do considerable rearranging of funds within and across programs to maintain what he believed was a healthy balance among fields. Funds devoted to re­search are proposed to rise 9%, from $2.27 billion to $2.47 bil­lion. Three-quarters of that figure, he said, would go to aca­demic investigators. Spending for education and human re­sources, which has grown by more than 10% annually over the past several years through fiscal 1995, would rise by only 3% next year, to a hefty $619 million for fiscal 1997.

NSF's $100 million academic research infrastructure pro­gram—up, down, in, and out over the years—is eliminated next year. The $50 million planned for 1996 to be spent on laboratory modernization is cut entirely, while the $50 mil­lion allocated to instrumentation assistance gets transferred into other research programs.

Federal agencies really don't change their key programs very much from year to year. Still, agency heads usually are pressed to conjure new themes to differentiate what is im­portant in one year's budget from another. For fiscal 1997, NSF's theme is to "prepare the nation for the 21st century."

Among some examples Lane gave for this are NSF's "sys­temic initiatives" to find the most effective ways to improve science and mathematics education. Funding for the Urban Systemic Initiative, focusing on science education in city schools, rises 20% to $67 million, and the Rural Systemic Initiative increases fourfold to $10 million.

Another theme is the agency's efforts at integrating re­search and education. Lane pointed to several examples,

such as $73 million proposed for younger faculty to work on ideas for better combining education and research. He announced a small program to recognize universities that achieve conceptual breakthroughs in this area.

Renovation and repair at NSF's Antarctic research station continues to be a priority, Lane said. An inspection in 1993 re­vealed 300 deficiencies at the site. NSF plans to spend $25 million in fiscal 1997 to implement safety improvements.

Funding proposed for individual programs at NSF varies for next year, according to the priorities the Administration has set. The informal science education program, for exam­ple, drops by $10.0 million to $26.0 million, the biggest drop of all education programs.

Funding for chemical research, including project support and instrumentation, would rise 9%, to $137 million, keeping pace with physics, which also has a proposed 9% rise to $142 million, and materials science's 9% increase to $189 million. Earth sciences, however, would rise 12% to $96 million. Chemical engineering (called chemical and transport systems) has a proposed increase of 9% to $41.6 million.

Defense. Though total federal R&D spending would rise under the president's proposed budget, the increase does not come from the Department of Defense, the biggest spender of all on research. For the second straight year, total funding proposed for research, development, testing, and evaluation at DOD is flat, holding at around $35 billion for 1997. An analysis of the R&D spending from each research category, however, indicates a slight drop in funding next year. Cuts are mostly in the testing and evaluation portion of the bud­get, which funds work on new ships and aircraft, for exam­ple. The DOD basic research budget is held steady at just more than $1.15 billion in proposed fiscal 1997, after being cut 10% last year from its fiscal 1995 level of $1.27 billion.

Applied research, which has not been broken out as a category in the past, is cut 3% for fiscal 1997, to $2.75 billion. This funding supports the engineering research that goes into much of the new DOD weapons systems.

An area of contention at DOD between Congress and the Administration will be programs to do cost-sharing technol­ogy research between the government and the private sec­tor. Last year, Congress eliminated the DOD Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP), which supported that research. The president has proposed a new Dual-Use Applications Program (DUAP) to replace TRP. With $250 million pro­posed for fiscal 1997, DUAP would solicit projects as gov­ernment-industry partnerships and select those that best meet military needs. Such a program will not be well re­ceived by the current Republican leadership, which views such partnerships as "corporate welfare," and has been try­ing to eliminate them throughout federal agencies.

National Institutes of Health. "In a time of fiscal austerity, the president's fiscal 1997 budget continues our historic and bipartisan commitment to biomedical research—a commit­ment that has paid off time and time again—from the map­ping of the human genome to the creation of new drugs tar­geted to specific diseases, like AIDS, manic depression, and stroke," said Donna E. Shalala, secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services, when presenting the 1997 pro­posed budget for NIH. She announced that the president's budget request for NIH totals $12.4 billion, an increase of $467 million, or 4% over the fiscal 1996 level. This figure includes an additional $274 million related to the construction of the

APRIL 1,1996 C&EN 21

GOVERNMENT

Budget rise proposed for '97 R&D funding is less than inflation rate.,

$ Millions 1995a 1996b 1997e

» ·

% change 1996-97

BY AGENCY Defense Health & Human

Services NASA Energy NSF Agriculture Commerce Transportation Interior EPA Other agencies

BY FUNCTION Conduct of R&D

Development Defense Civilian

Applied research Civilian

Defense Basic research

Civilian

Defense R&D facilities &

equipment

TOTAL

• . · but provides

$35,350 $35,428 $35,523

11,519

9,390

6,481

2,431 1,542

1,164 667

668 554

1,315

12,118

9,334

6,689

2,430 1,479

1,086 622

622

508 1,134

12,621

9,359

6,269 2,516

1,499

1,260 679 582

585

1,786

$68,882 $69,219 $69,910 40,804 32,316 8,488

14,273 10,566 3,707

13,805 12,629

1,176

2,199

$71,081

40,909 32,612

8,297

14,251 10,560

3,691 14,059 12,940

1,119 2,231

$71,450

40,711 32,615

8,096 14,862 11,135 3,727

14,337 13,181

1,156

2,769

$72,679

0% 4

0 -6

4 1

16 9

-6 15 57

1% 0 0

-2 4 5 1 2 2 3

24

2%

more funds for some 'strategic' investments

$ Millions

Peer-reviewed R&D programs

University research support

International space station

Global-change research

High-performance computing & communications

Advanced technology/ manufacturing extension partnerships

Renewable energy R&D Intelligent transportation

system

1995a 1996b

$21,895 $21,160

12,445

2,113

1,785

1,096

415

363 217

12,573

2,144

1,712

1,023

400

275 208

1997e

$22,406

12,728

2,149

1,852

1,050

450

363 337

% change 1996-97

6%

1

0

8

3

13

32 62

Note: Budget authority. Strategic items contain double counting (they should not be summed), reflecting the leveraged nature of these investments. b Estimate includes Administration's proposed adjustments to 1996 resolution levels, c Proposed. Source: Office of Management & Budget

a Actual. continuing

22 APRIL 1,1996 C&EN

Clinical Research Center at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., and an additional $193 million for research.

The highest priority of NIH is to support basic biomedical research through investigator-initiated research project grants. For fiscal 1997, the NIH budget provides $6.6 billion to sup­port a record total of 25,400 such grants, including 6,827 new and competing grants. This represents an increase of 207 new and competing research project grants and an increase of 733 total awards compared with fiscal 1996. NIH is devoting 86%—or $166 million—of its nonfacuities increases in fiscal 1997 to the research project grant mechanism.

Funds for small business research initiatives and technolo­gy transfer grants are also slated to rise by $43 million to $229 million in fiscal 1997, in accordance with statutory earmarks. Money for intramural research is flat in 1997 at $1.30 billion; however, the construction of the new clinical center is consid­ered by Shalala and NIH Director Harold E. Varmus to be great support for intramural research. "We can't fly into the future riding in a horse and buggy," said Shalala, "and we certainly can't expect a hospital built in the 1950s to transport us into the next century." The existing 40-year-old Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center in Bethesda serves an average of 20,000 adults and children each year. In the U.S., over half of all federally funded clinical research beds are located there.

Funds targeted for cancer research will get the biggest chunk of the research dollars, up $35 million, or 1.7%, to $2.06 billion. All of NIH's AIDS-related funds—about $1.4 billion-fall into a consolidated budget for the Office of AIDS Re­search, an increase of $24 million.

Funding for the National Institute of General Medical Sci­ences, where most chemistry research at NIH is supported, is up $16 million, or 2%, to $937 million. The total spending for research project grants goes from $722 million to $733 million, and the total number of grants rises from 3,271 to 3,284.

Agriculture. Research program funding at the Depart­ment of Agriculture rises very slightly overall from estimat­ed fiscal 1996 figures to $1.50 billion. The Agricultural Re­search Service (ARS), which conducts in-house USDA in­vestigations at 105 department labs, would get an increase of $14 million next year, a rise of less than 2%, to a total of $740 million. This is spread evenly throughout the various ARS programs of soil, plant, and animal science, and nutri­tion and commodity delivery. One figure sure to attract Congress' attention is a 167% proposed increase to $80 mil­lion for construction and improvements at the labs.

The commodity conversion and delivery research program, a major effort with a proposed budget frozen at $143 million, typifies how USDA is adapting to tight R&D budgets. The group focuses on food safety and quality concerns and does research to eliminate barriers to food exports. For fiscal 1997, an increase of $5 million is proposed to control postharvest pathogens and a high priority is to reduce bacteria on meat and poultry products.

The other principal research agency at USDA, the Coopera­tive State Research, Education & Extension Service, would have its operating budget reduced by $8 million, to $842 mil­lion for fiscal 1997. Its funds for construction and facilities would be cut to zero from about $46 million this fiscal year. The service funds most of the department's extramural re­search. Most of the cuts come from chopping the Special Re­search Grants Program from $48 million to just $6 million. This program has focused on designated problems or local is-

NIST pushes for higher funds, flaunts congressional disapproval

$ Millions 1995* 1996b

Advanced Technology $340.5 $255.4 Program

Laboratory research 246.9 256.1 & services

Construction of 34.6 -15.0 research facilities

Manufacturing 74.2 80.0 Extension Partnership

National Quality Program 3.4 2.9

TOTAL $699.6 $579.4

1997e

$345.0

267.8

105.2

105.0

3.0

$826.0

% change 1996-97

35%

5

na

31

3

42%

Note: Obligations, a Actual, b Estimates based on current continuing resolution levels. c Proposed, na = not applicable. Source: Department of Commerce

Energy seeks big increases for conservation, renewable*

$ Millions 1995" 1996b

Energy R&D $6,100 $5,398 Energy supply 3,470 2,952

Energy research 1,744 1,539 Environmental 736 618

management Energy efficiency 403 289

& renewables Nuclear energy 312 257 Environmental safety 128 124

& health Other programs 147 125

General science & 970 982 research

Environmental 736 618 restoration & waste management

Energy conservation 486 418 Fossil energy 438 428

Nuclear weapons 1,408 1,496 stockpile stewardship

1997e

$5,643 3,068 1,539

651

369

248 112

149 1,009

651

566 349

1,577

°/% rhflnno /O l#IICH IUC

1996-97

5% 4 0 5

28

-3 -9

19 3

5

35 -19

5

TOTAL $7,508 $6,894 $7,220 5%

Note: Obligations, a Actual, b Includes prior-year balances and undefined other adjustments, c Proposed. Source: Department of Energy

Defense R&D budget hovers close to $35 billion for third year straight

$ Millions 1995a 1996b

Operational systems $9,309 $10,946 development

Engineering & 8,642 8,478 manufacturing development

Demonstration & 4,881 4,737 validation

Advanced technology 4,252 3,702 development

Applied research 2,874 2,841 Management support 4,082 3,102 Basic research 1,272 1,145

TOTAL $35,312 $34,951

Note: Obligations, a Actual, b Estimate, c Proposed. Source: Office of Management & Budget

1997e

$10,979

8,955

4,546

3,442

2,748 2,698 1,149

$34,517

% change 1996-97

0%

6

-4

-7

-3 -13

0

- 1 %

NIH budget is up 4%, but most will be used for new building

$ Millions

National Institutes Cancer Heart, Lung & Blood Dental Research Diabetes & Digestive

& Kidney Disorders Neurological Disorders

& Stroke Allergy & Infectious

Diseases

1995"

$ 9,042 1,913 1,243

163 725

628

537

General Medical Sciences 880 Child Health & Human

Development Eye Environmental Health

Sciences Aging Arthritis & Musculoskeletal

& Skin Diseases Deafness & Other

Communications Disorders

Mental Health Drug Abuse Alcohol Abuse &

Alcoholism Nursing Research

AIDS Research National Center for

Research Resources Human Genome Research Fogarty International

Center National Library of Medicine Office of the Director Building & facilities

TOTAL

a Actual, b Estimate, c Proposed.

509

292 266

432 228

167

541 290 180

48 1,334

287

153 15

i 136 214 114

$11,295

1996b

$ 9,506 2,025 1,298

171 760

658

573

921 534

305 283

452 239

175

568 305 188

51 1,408

322

169 16

149 234 146

$11,950

new money

1997e

$ 9,681 2,060 1,321

175 773

671

584

937 543

310 289

462 243

179

578 312 192

52 1,432

309

178 16

154 227 420

$12,417

Sources: National Institutes of Health, Office of Management & Budget

NASA's total budget is flat, but access funding rises 13%

$ Millions

Science, aeronautics & technology Space science Life & microgravity sciences Mission to Planet Earth Space access & technology Aeronautical research

& technology Mission communications Academic programs

Human space flight Mission support Inspector General

TOTAL

a Estimate, b Proposed.

1995a

$ 5,943

2,013 > 483

1,340 ' 642

882

481 102

5,515 2,589

16

$14,063

1996a

$ 5,846

2,033 489

1,289 641 846

441 107

5,457 2,502

16

$13,821

space

1997b

$ 5,862

1,857 499

1,402 725 858

421 101

5,363 2,562

17

$13,804

% change 1996-97

2% 2 2 2 2

2

2

2

2

2 2

2 2

2

2 2 2

2 2

-4

5 0

3 -3

188

4%

% change 1996-97

0%

-9 2 9

13 1

"̂ -6 -2

2 6

0%

Sources: National Aeronautics & Space Administration, Office of Management & Budget 1

APRIL 1,1996 C&EN 23

GOVERNMENT

NSF's budget is up

$ Millions

4% overall.

1995a 1996b

• · % change

1997e 1996-97

Research & related activities $2,280 $2,271 $2,469 Mathematical & physical

sciences Geosciences Biological sciences Engineering Computer & information

science & engineering Polar programs Social, behavioral &

economic sciences

645

420 301 323 258

223 110

Education & human resources 612 Research facilities & equipment 244 Other

TOTAL

. . . with funding for

$ Millions

Ocean sciences $ Materials research Atmospheric sciences Physics Chemistry Astronomical sciences Molecular & cellular

biosciences Earth sciences Mathematical sciences Integrative biology &

neurosciences Environmental biology Multidisciplinary activities

136

651

418 300 316 255

217 114

601 171 140

708

454 326 354 277

226 124

619 95

142

$3,270 $3,183 $3,325

9% 9

9 9

12 9

4 9

3 -44

2

4%

liard' sciences up 8%.. ·

1995a 1996b

192.8$ 190.6$ 174.8 174.0 144.4 142.0 130.0 130.9 123.1 125.7 102.5 106.2 88.6

82.4 85.3 80.4

79.0 29.5

87.2

85.4 84.2 80.0

79.0 30.0

% change 1997e 1996-97

204.9 189.1 153.2 142.3 136.6 117.0 92.2

95.9 91.6 85.0

84.2 31.5

TOTAL $1,312.8 $1,315.2 $1,423.5

• . . and that for chemically related programs up 9%

$ Millions

Materials research Project support

1995a 1996b

8% 9 8 9 9

10 6

12 9 6

7 5

8%

% chanae 1997e

$174.8 $174.0 $189.1 82.8

Science & engineering centers 58.7 National facilities &

instrumentation Chemistry

Project support

33.3

123.1 105.1

Instrumentation & infrastructure 18.0 Engineering

Chemical & transport systems

Bioengineering &

62.8 39.7

23.1 environmental systems Bioengineering Environmental & ocean

systems

TOTAL

16.2 6.9

84.1 56.6 33.3

125.7 105.6 20.1 61.3 38.1

23.2

16.2 7.0

92.6 58.6 37.9

136.6 111.7 24.9 67.5 41.6

25.9

17.0 8.9

$360.7 $361.0 $393.2

1996-97

9% 10 4

14

9 6

24 10 9

12

5 27

9%

Note: Obligations, a Actual, b Estimate does not include $40 million in adjustments proposed in budget negotiations, c Proposed. Source: National Sc :ience Foundation

24 APRIL 1,1996 C&EN

sues, but USDA has decided that most of them are of too lim­ited concern. Some special grants that will continue next year are for global warming research ($1.6 million), water quality investigations ($2.8 million), and several smaller projects.

USDA is again trying to beef up its National Research Ini­tiative by boosting proposed funding to $130 million next year, up from about $97 million in fiscal 1996. These funds are for peer-reviewed, investigator-initiated projects on a wide range of environmental, health, and nutrition concerns. This initiative is the only completely peer-review-based research program at USDA. It is also somewhat of a political football. Each year, the Administration has proposed huge increases for this initiative, and each year, Congress knocks it back down to about where it was the year before.

National Aeronautics & Space Administration. "We asked for stable funding through fiscal 1997, and that's ex­actly what the president's budget gives us," said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. The total fiscal 1997 budget of $13.8 billion gives the agency the "stability that will en­able us to continue to restructure in an orderly, well-thought-out way, deliver a space and aeronautics program that's relevant, balanced, and stable, and protect the human dignity of our employees and contractors." The agency's strategy over the past few years has been to absorb a 36% cut through fiscal 2000 and maintain funding stability in the meantime, through fiscal 1997. "Continued stability in fiscal 1997 means we can continue to restructure NASA carefully and deliberately and ensure safety, achieve real cost sav­ings, and eliminate overlap and low-priority support func­tions and nonessential programs," he said.

The biggest increase in funding comes in the Mission to Planet Earth, funded at $1.40 billion, up $113 million, or 9%, from fiscal 1996. The goal of this project is to generate a better understanding of the total Earth system—its land, oceans, at­mosphere, and biosphere. The biggest part of the Mission to Planet Earth is the Earth Observing System, with funding up 9% to $586 million. The system is designed to provide the first comprehensive, long-term measurements of the interactions among the major components of the global Earth system.

Energy. The R&D effort at the Department of Energy cov­ers everything from the Human Genome Project to methods of testing nuclear weapons. It also is the most difficult R&D budget to define accurately. OMB data indicate R&D will de­crease about 6% at Energy for 1997 to $6.27 billion, but num­bers supplied by DOE add up to an increase in research of about 5%, to $7.22 billion. The reason for the difference lies buried in federal accounting procedures and means different budget preparers are using different definitions of R&D. As best can be determined at this time, many of the discrepancies apparently occur in budgets for environmental restoration and waste management, energy conservation, and perhaps nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship.

From a historical perspective, OMB numbers are the best comparative measure of R&D spending trends because OMB has used the same strict definition of R&D for the past decade.

Major expansions are proposed for research in solar and other renewable energies to $369 million, a 28% increase, and for energy conservation R&D, a rise of more than 35% to $566 million. Both of these are areas the Republican Congress be­lieves are more suited for development by the private sector and has reduced federal funding for in the past. The depart-

ment itself decided that one area that could be reduced is funding for hydrogen research, which had been boosted to $14.5 million last year. DOE proposes $11.0 million for fiscal 1997, a 24% cut. Hydrogen fuel research is a favorite project for House Science Committee Chairman Robert S. Walker (R-Pa.), who is retiring at the end of this year.

This sort of "in your face" budget request by DOE could lead to some lively appropriations hearings. Martha A. Krebs, director of DOE's Office of Energy Research, said at a briefing that the proposed increases are "simply attempts to restore the levels of spending" to near fiscal 1995 levels. Krebs said DOE "thinks the current funding from Congress is wrong-headed" and that the department intends to fight for its increases.

Major funding cuts at DOE are slated for fossil energy re­search, down 19% to $349 million, and for investigations of environmental safety, to be cut 9% to $112 million. The fos­sil energy research proposal includes major reductions in clean-coal technology, down more than 15% to $102 million, and almost zeroes out research on mining, cutting it 87% to $5 million. DOE also plans to reduce its cooperative R&D budget and cut back on purchasing capital equipment.

In the Energy Research Office, which supports basic re­search, most programs will be trimmed, although the final budget request equals the fiscal 1996 estimated budget at about $1.5 billion. The cuts come primarily at the expense of biological research, down 7% to $379 million; support for the multiprogram laboratories, down 15% to $29 million; and en­ergy research analysis, cut 41% to $2 million. These reductions will result in slower and fewer peer reviews of proposals.

Almost all the funding increase in this fundamental re­search office goes to the nuclear fusion program, which gets a big boost to $256 million, a 12% rise.

Krebs indicated that some of the funds for proposed budget increases will come from the conclusion of work on the molec­ular research lab at the Pacific Northwest National Laborato­ry in Richland, Wash., and from "discontinuing some projects that had been placed in the 1996 budget without the benefit of peer review." She is referring to projects earmarked into the department's appropriations bill by members of Congiess.

National Institute of Standards & Technology. Flaunt­ing the criticism of Republican leaders in Congress, the Ad­ministration has proposed some significant increases for programs at NIST. Leading the challenge is a 35% increase in funding, to $345 million, proposed for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), an effort that was pilloried in the fiscal 1996 budget as "corporate welfare" and was al­most eliminated at one point. ATP is a cost-sharing research program started in 1990 that provides funding for new tech­nology considered too risky for traditional investment. ATP still exists because 1996 funding for the Commeice Depart­ment, of which NIST is part, has not been passed by Con­gress or approved by the president, so it lives from continu­ing resolution to continuing resolution.

Mary L. Good, Commerce Department undersecretary for technology, chided Congress at a briefing for its cuts in ATP and other Commerce research programs. "In the rhet­oric of last year, the reason for these programs was forgot­ten. They are not to support these companies, but to sup­port people. Without these programs, our citizens will not prosper." She added that the increase proposed for ATP will just allow the program to keep funding the projects it

has already approved, and have one new open competition for proposals and several focused competitions next year.

Other programs at NIST received proposed increases. The Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which is supposed to help small manufacturers get the technology they need, would be up 31% to $105 million. And the NIST laboratory research programs seek a 5% increase to $268 million. Good noted that this increase will permit the lab to move ahead on urgent research such as semiconductor metrology.

Environmental Protection Agency. Under the president's 1997 proposal of $585 million, EPA's R&D budget would rise over the 1996 level, but no one can say by how much. The R&D level in the continuing resolution for fiscal 1996 is $508 million, and the White House has been seeking to add $966 million to EPA's total budget for 1996. If Congress eventually approves this overall increase, which is unlikely, the 1996 R&D budget would be $562 million. Recently, EPA has been operating under one-week extensions of the cur­rent continuing resolution.

Another unknown is how much the funds for individual R&D program offices would change. Because the 1996 bud­get is not yet final, there is no way to say how the 1997 budget will impact most of the programs. However, accord­ing to Robert J. Huggett, EPA assistant administrator for re­search and development, the following research areas will be emphasized in 1997: particulate matter in air; drinking water disinfectant by-products and microorganisms such as Cryptosporidium; endocrine disrupters, such as the possible effects of environmental chemicals on human reproduction; new technologies for pollution prevention; and emerging issues related to human health and ecosystem protection.

The budget requests $152.2 million for air research, which includes air toxics, criteria air pollutants, global change, mo­bile source emissions, and indoor air research. EPA is also asking for $26.0 million for drinking water research, $107.4 million for ecosystem protection research, $40.2 million for human health protection research, and $48.6 million for new technology and pollution prevention research. Some of these funds, $27.6 million, would be used for research for the Envi­ronmental Technology Initiative (ΕΤΙ), which Congress has repeatedly tried to zero out. EPA's overall request for ΕΉ was $72 million. ΕΉ aims to develop innovative, cost-effective en­vironmental technologies through collaboration with the pri­vate sector. In the STAR program (Science to Achieve Re­sults), EPA would provide $100 million in grants for outside scientists and $15 million for graduate research fellowships. The grants would be spread across all areas of R&D.

Global change, including global climate and stratospheric ozone, is the only area where direct comparisons with previ­ous years can be made. EPA reported to the House Science Committee last week that global-change research received $24.5 million in 1995, $22.2 million was requested in 1996, and the request for 1997 is $12.2 million. In contrast, EPA was ap­propriated $32 million for global-change research in 1994.

According to sources from the U.S. Global Change Re­search Program, the Clinton White House wants EPA to play an important role in global-change research. But in slashing its budget drastically, EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner appears to lack enthusiasm for such research. This has creat­ed a problem for the program, which very much needs the participation of EPA in evaluating the consequences of global change. Π

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