SPECIAL EDITION: FY2008 BUDGET

Complete Budget Information Available on FASEB Budget Page

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

At first glance, it appears that the President’s FY2008 budget proposal includes an increase of $232 million for NIH, to 28.621 billion (the President’s Labor-Health-Education appropriations request for NIH). However, when reading the fine print, it was discovered that the President’s FY2008 budget proposes to increase the amount of dollars that NIH must transfer to the Global AIDS Fund by $201 million over FY2007. Therefore, based on the President’s assumptions for NIH’s FY2007 funding level, the net effect is that NIH would receive a paltry $32 million increase in FY2008 under the President’s proposal. The $32 million increase amounts to a 0.1 percent increase for the agency.

The President’s proposal looks even worse when compared to the funding level proposed for NIH in the FY2007 Joint Funding Resolution ($28.931 billion for NIH). In fact, the President’s FY2008 proposal for NIH would represent more than a $500 million cut from the House-passed joint funding resolution.

NIH’s purchasing power would continue to decline in FY2008 under the President’s proposal because the Biomedical Research and Development Price Index (BRDPI) is forecasted to be 3.7 percent in FY2008.

Specific NIH Budget Information relating to President’s FY2008 proposal:

• Research Project Grants (RPG’s) represent 53 percent of the total NIH budget request.

• NIH plans to support 10,188 new and competing RPG’s in FY2008, an increase of 566 over FY2007.

• The average cost of a new and competing renewal project grant in FY2008 will be about $350,000, with no increase provided for inflation.

• The FY2008 budget allocates a total of $486 million, an increase of $72 million, or 17 percent, over FY2007, to continue support for trans-NIH Roadmap initiatives in accordance with the strategic plan developed in September 2003.

• The FY2008 budget includes $31 million, an increase of $16 million, to double the funding available across the NIH Institutes and Centers for the “Pathways to Independence” program to provide increased and stable support for new research investigators.

• For FY2008, the President’s budget proposes a total of $1.7 billion for NIH biodefense efforts, a net decrease of $8 million or 0.4 percent, below FY2007.

Additional information about how the President’s FY2008 budget will affect NIH can be found here.

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

The President’s FY2008 budget proposes that the National Science Foundation (NSF) continue down the path described in the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), which aims to double the budgets of NSF and DOE over the course of a 10-year period. NSF would receive $6.43 billion in the President’s budget. Given congressional support for the ACI, as shown through the introduction of numerous bills aimed at increasing the U.S.’s scientific competitiveness, it seems likely these numbers would be supported by Congress. A link to the NSF budget request can be found here.  

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Similar to the NSF budget, the President recommended the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science receive an increase in FY2008 that continues toward the path described in the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI). DOE’s Office of Science would receive $4.398 billion in the President’s budget.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

The President’s FY2008 budget proposes a significant increase for the USDA’s National Research Initiative (NRI), recommending a funding level of $257 million. This is approximately $67 million over the FY2007 funding level in the House-passed joint funding resolution. However, much of the increase is targeted to “high priority” research areas, including $19 million for bio-based fuels as part of the President’s alternative energy initiative. At a briefing releasing the budget, USDA Secretary Mike Johanns stated that the Administration is emphasizing the importance of competitive research grants through the NRI. This was clearly to deflect criticism that the FY2008 proposal also includes the loss of several hundred million dollars of projects funded through the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) via congressional earmarks, a topic of great interest to reporters present at the briefing. In answer to questions about whether the cuts will make the U.S. less competitive in agricultural research or if the cut projects had no value, Johanns stated simply that the President was not going to fund earmarks, supported competitive research, and wished to bring greater transparency to the budget process. The proposed amount for ARS in the FY2008 budget is $1.056 billion. The USDA budget request to Congress can be found here.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

In FY2008, $411 million is requested for the VA Medical Research Program. The President intended to provide a $2 million increase based on his assumption that the VA Medical Research Program’s budget in FY2007 would be $409 million. However, the Joint Funding resolution proposes to fund the VA Medical Research program at $412 million in FY2007. Therefore, some may view the President’s proposal as a cut.
For more information, read the press release from VA.

NASA

Once again, NASA has reorganized its programs in the life sciences area.  Research in the life and biological sciences does not have a single organizational component, and the total funding for these fields is difficult to summarize.  Some of the programs under the old Human Systems Research and Technology (HRS&T) Theme have been moved into a new, smaller entity called the Human Research Program (HRP).  The NASA budget documents show HRP declining from $414.6 million in FY 2006 to $178.5 million in FY2007.  The President’s budget for FY2008 proposes $183.4 million for HRP.  However, a footnote also indicated that the budget for FY2008 “also includes an institutional adjustment to the allocation of agency costs to the program (+$7.8 million).  Adjusting for the allocated costs, it appears that there a decrease in purchasing power of $2.9 million for FY2008.

FASEB PRESS RELEASE

FASEB issued a press release stating that President Bush has failed to live up to his promise of nourishing NIH, especially in light of the FY2007 Joint Funding Resolution, which provides NIH with a $620 million increase.

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