President Bush’s proposed science budget for fiscal year (FY) 2008 closely reflects last year’s recommended budget, with priorities focused on maintaining current spending levels in most departments while giving a modest boost to three agencies participating in a White House initiative to sustain U.S. leadership in science and technology.
The $2.9 trillion budget devotes nearly $143 billion to research-and-development (R&D) funding. Although this number surpasses FY 2007’s estimated spending by more than $3 billion, the total bump to last year’s estimated R&D budget is only 0.1 percent when adjusted for an expected 2.42 percent rate of inflation.