By Sid Perkins
The five-volume, 2,866-page budget proposal forwarded to Congress by President Bush on Feb. 3 contains a record-setting request for federal research and development. Together, NASA and the Department of Defense are slated to receive about 80 percent of the suggested increase in R&D funding. Other big winners in this year’s budget include the National Science Foundation and the newly established Department of Homeland Security. Among budget losers are the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Commerce.
Of the $2.23 trillion in proposed federal expenditures planned for fiscal year (FY) 2004, which starts Oct. 1, nearly $123 billion would fund R&D. That’s an increase of about $8 billion over last year’s proposals, or just over 5 percent after accounting for the expected rate of inflation. John H. Marburger, the President’s science adviser, says the new budget’s research dollars reflect two main priorities: protecting people in the United States against the threat of terrorism and strengthening the economy. “There’s a sharpened need to fund the highest priorities,” he notes. “That’s good for science.”