The four-volume, 2,726-page budget proposal that President Bush forwarded to Congress on Feb. 4 includes the largest-ever increase for scientific research and development, with particularly generous provisions for defense and health R&D programs. These priorities trump other areas of science, whose proposed allocations collectively break even, compared with the current budget.
Of the $2.13 trillion in proposed federal expenditures detailed for fiscal year (FY) 2003, nearly $112 billion would go to R&D, an overall increase over FY 2002 of nearly $8.6