President Trump’s budget request calls for a major increase in Department of Defense (DoD) spending, although that increase would not benefit basic research funding. The request for agency funding would be a $54 billion dollar increase from currently enacted levels. Technically, the President’s request would decrease funding for Science and Technology (S&T) from the FY 17 budget passed a few months ago, but that says more about the massive one-time increase in S&T funding seen in the latest budget than any lack of support from the administration. When compared to FY 16, S&T funding would be raised by 1.6 percent.
A large portion of that funding goes to multi-billion-dollar boosts to late-stage development, prototyping, and demonstration activities. Even as investments in DoD increase, relative to FY 16, basic research would lose about $80 million between all military branches; applied research would lose about $23 million. This focus on advanced technology development is consistent with a multi-year pivot known as the Third Offset Strategy, which focuses on near-term technological agility. That being said, the Trump Administration has requested massive reductions in applied research in other departments, such as Department of Energy, making his DoD budget a noteworthy, if not particularly surprising, shift from that policy.
This cut in basic research extends across branches, as the Army, Navy, and Air Force all lost between $25 and $76 million compared to FY 16 levels. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an exception to the rule, receiving $3.17 billion, up from $2.87 billion in FY 16, and increasing funding to popular DARPA programs such as the Young Faculty Award.
As always, the presidential budget request is a statement of priorities for the administration, rather than a legally binding document. As previously mentioned in GrantWeek, Congress makes final funding decisions. A new funding bill must be passed by September 30, 2017, in order to keep the government open.
To read more about the DoD budget request, click here. To read the official request, click here
