As part of the new FY 17 budget recently signed into law, both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation, (NSF) saw varying degrees of increased funding over the previous year’s funding levels.
NIH received a $2 billion increase in this budget, or 6.2 percent from prior funding levels. This number is significant, as it pushes in the opposite direction of the Trump administration’s request to reduce NIH funding by 3.9 percent in FY 18, mostly by reducing funding for indirect costs. Although the increases are spread between the 21 institutes that make up NIH, the National Cancer Institute saw the largest percentage boost, receiving 9.1 percent more than the FY 16 enacted budget, or about $470 million. Other large increases went to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (5.5 percent), the National Eye Institute (2.3 percent), the National Institute on Deafness & Other Communication Disorders (3.3 percent) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (3 percent).
Several NIH-wide initiatives also received increases in funding, including $260 million for the BRAIN Initiative, a huge 73 percent increase from FY 16 levels. The Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program received $333 million, a 4 percent increase, to support an expansion of eligibility criteria that includes Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) states. In addition, the NIH appropriations include nonbinding congressional directives, including calls for the NIH to commit at least 55 percent of all funding to extramural research, focus on young investigators, and increase the absolute number of research grants available.
NSF also saw an increase in funding, although the 0.1 percent raise in funding levels is dwarfed by NIH’s increased support. The NSF budget is more notable for what it does not contain than any new additions. NSF appropriations specifically do not include language directing the funding levels for individual directorates to avoid political agendas driving foundation efforts. The budget also strips out a proposed increase for EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research), keeping it level funded at $160 million. A proposed increase in I-Corps funding also got eliminated, with appropriation levels holding steady at $30 million.
That being said, some large programs did receive additional support from Congress. The budget provides $18 million for the cross-foundation Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE) program, 17 percent above the requested amount. It also gives $15 million to start a new program focusing on Hispanic Serving Institutions that are not heavy recipients of NSF funding. To find out more about the budget, please click here.
