Coming nearly three months into the fiscal year, enactment of the $1.1 trillion spending measure that funds most of the federal government through the remainder of FY 2015 provides slight increases for NSF and the Department of Defense’s basic research programs but leaves spending for most other federal science programs largely unchanged from their FY 2014 levels.
Under the act, which was signed into law by President Obama on 16 December, the Pentagon’s basic research programs will increase 5.1% from their FY 2014 levels, to $2.3 billion. The administration had proposed to trim those programs by 7%. Applied research for DOD was cut by 9.4% from last year, to $4.2 billion. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency budget was upped 4.9%, or $136 million, to $2.9 billion. DARPA basic research increased by $31 million from last year.
An increase of $172 million moved NSF’s budget up to $7.3 billion in...
