Obama’s 2017 science budget favors nondefense basic research and mandatory spending

Science : The Obama administration yesterday released its 2017 budget requests, which included a $152 billion request for all federal R&D, up 4% from 2016. The increase would come through mandatory spending, which will require Congress to dedicate specific revenue streams for each program. This is in contrast to discretionary spending, which goes through the usual appropriations process. In the past, Congress has favored discretionary funding because it gives them more control over spending. Within the budget, NSF, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and NIST—the three largest basic research agencies—would receive a combined $14.6 billion in funding, about 7% more than in 2016. NASA’s budget would remain flat at $5.6 billion and the Department of Defense’s basic science spending would be cut 9% to $2.115 billion.