Science AMA Series: Hi, I’m Matt Hourihan and I analyze bills–like the
recent omnibus–for their impact on science and technology research and
development funding. Ask me anything!
Abstract
Hi, I’m Matt Hourihan and I run the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program,
where we follow trends in federal science spending and analyze
legislation–like the recent omnibus–for its impact on science and
technology budgets. We’ve served for 40 years as a source of info for
policy makers and the science community. Ask me anything! After months
of waiting and weeks of negotiating, the Republican-controlled Congress
finally released their omnibus bill to fund government for the next
several months, and they did something many scientists weren’t
expecting: they completely diverged from President Trump’s blueprint. As
part of their historically difficult science budget for 2018, the Trump
Administration also recommended a set of steep cuts to take effect
immediately in the current fiscal year, on everything from basic science
at NIH to technology programs at the Department of Energy to climate
research at NOAA. But Congress pretty much ignored these in their 2017
bill. According to our current estimates, the omnibus bill would
increase federal R&D by five percent this year, with increases for
basic and applied research, development, and R&D facilities funding.
Among science agencies, there were a few clear winners, while most
managed to avoid the sorts of cuts sought by the President. The bill has
passed the House and looks set to pass the Senate today, per the latest
update (knock wood). How does the bill shape up? Does it tell us
anything about what might happen in the next funding debate, just over
the horizon? What kind of say does President Trump have over all this?
How does the federal budget process even work?? Ask me anything! (you
can also follow me on Twitter or check out our website, or play around
with our science budget data dashboard) I’ll be answering your questions
at 3 pm EST. Ask Me Anything!