Lean Times: Proposed budget keeps science spending slim

President Bush’s proposed fiscal year (FY) 2006 budget devotes $132 billion to research and development, approximately the same amount as the government plans to spend in FY 2005. Although administration spokespeople asserted that science spending would grow 1 percent under the President’s 2006 plan, spending would decrease 1.4 percent after expected inflation—leading to another year of belt tightening for most federal science agencies.