RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Despite tight constraints on discretionary spending, fiscal year 2000 is the seventh year in a row that the President has proposed increased investments in civilian research and development -- to a total of $39.8 billion. Civilian R&D now constitutes 51% of the overall R&D budget of $78.2 billion.

The FY 2000 budget continues the important R&D trends established by this Administration. It boosts funding for basic research to $18.2 billion, an increase of 4.2% ($727 million) over FY 1999. The budget also strengthens university-based research, which increases by $353 million, and reflects an effort to reestablish an optimum balance between health care research and other scientific disciplines.

· 21^st Century Research Fund: The 21^st Century Research Fund continues to be the centerpiece of the President's R&D investment strategy. This year the Research Fund includes DOD basic and applied research programs, further evidence of the Administration's commitment to effective integration of the Nation's university-based research portfolio. The $38 billion Research Fund grows by 3% in FY 2000, and provides for overall stability and for growth in the highest priority research programs

Highlights of the R&D Budget: The proposed R&D investments will enable the S&T agencies to achieve the President's goals for science and technology: promote long-term economic growth that creates high-wage jobs; sustain a healthy, educated citizenry; harness information technology; improve environmental quality; enhance national security and global stability; and maintain world leadership in science, engineering, and mathematics. For example:

· National Institutes of Health (NIH): Keeping pace with the Administration's ambitious goal last year for increased biomedical research, the budget includes a 2% ($320 million) increase. These investments will allow continued progress on diabetes, brain disorders, cancer, genetic medicine, disease prevention strategies, and development of an AIDS vaccine.

· National Science Foundation (NSF): The budget provides $3.92 billion (a 7% increase) for the continued support that NSF provides to all fields of scientific study. The budget provides $146 million for NSF to play a lead role in the Administration's Information Technology in the 21^st Century (IT²) initiative and also increases funding for biocomplexity research on biological, physical, chemical, and social interactions in Earth's ecosystems.

· Department of Energy (DOE): The budget provides $2.84 billion (a 5% increase) for basic science programs at DOE. The budget includes resources for basic research as well as continued support for construction and operation of large scientific user facilities, including the Spallation Neutron Source and the international partnership on the Large Hadron Collider. Significant participation in IT² will help to accelerate scientific discovery and research under the Climate Change Technology Initiative will provide long term advances toward energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

· Department of Defense (DOD): The budget provides $1.1 billion in basic research, $3 billion in applied research, and $3.3 billion in advanced technology development. Research on counter-terrorism and on improvements in the safety and security of the Nation's physical infrastructure and information and communications systems receive targeted increases.

· Department of the Interior (DOI): The budget provides $838 million (a 5% increase) to USGS for science that supports national resource and environmental decisionmaking. The budget also supports research and technical assistance on the scientific needs of land managers and local land use planners.

· National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): The President' FY 2000 budget includes: $2.46 billion for the International Space Station (an 8% increase); $2.2 billion for Space Science (a 4% increase over FY 1999); $1.46 billion for Earth Science (a 3% increase); and $493 million over five years for new technology investments to enable, for example, robotic outposts throughout the solar system.

· Department of Agriculture (USDA): The Agricultural Research Service receives a 6% increase to $837 million, and CSREES receives a 68% increase to $475 million for the National Research Initiative competitive grants program which will support advances in genomics of agricultural species, food safety and more environmentally friendly agricultural practices. Funding for the Forest Service increases 19% to $235 million in support of ecosystem and global change research.

· Department of Commerce (DOC): The budget includes $918 million in the 21^st Century Research Fund at DOC. It provides $239 million (an 18% increase) for NIST's Advanced Technology Program to promote unique, rigorously competitive, cost-shared R&D partnerships. It also provides $283 million to NOAA for research to support decisionmaking on climate change, air quality, and ozone depletion.

Interagency Initiatives

The budget increases investment in national priorities requiring multi-agency investments. For example:

· High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) and the Information Technology Initiative (IT²): The budget provides a total of $1.8 billion (a 28% increase) for these programs. IT², which responds to the recommendations of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee to increase funding for fundamental, long-term research, advanced applications, and research on the economic and social implications of information technology, is funded at $366 million in FY 2000

· Climate Change Technology Initiative: The budget provides a 34% increase for this initiative, which includes $1.4 billion in R&D on energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbon sequestration, and improvements in nuclear and fossil technologies. The initiative also provides $0.4 billion in tax credits to stimulate adoption of energy efficiency technologies.

· U.S. Global Change Research Program: The budget provides $1.8 billion (a 6% increase) to observe, understand, predict, and assess the state of the Earth and how it changes in response to natural and human-induced forces.

· Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV): The budget provides $264 million (a 10% increase) for this cost-shared, industry partnership. PNGV aims to develop affordable cars that achieve up to three times the fuel economy of comparable vehicles and meet all applicable emission and safety standards.

· Education Research Initiative: The budget provides $50 million ($25 million at NSF and $25 million at Ed.) to support large-scale, interdisciplinary research in three key areas: school readiness for learning reading and mathematics; K-3 learning in reading and mathematics; and education of PreK-12 teachers in mathematics, reading, and science. The resulting knowledge base will be used to support the development, testing, and implementation of scalable and sustainable interventions to improve teaching and learning through information and computer technologies.

· Research and Experimentation (R&E) Tax Credit: The budget provides $2.4 billion to extend the R&E tax credit, scheduled to expire on June 30, 1999, until June 30, 2000. The R&E credit helps stimulate additional private sector investment in research and development which encourages technological advancement, leading to higher productivity, and helping to generate new American jobs.