President Signs NSF Budget for FY 06

On November 22nd, 2005, President Bush signed into law the Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations bill (CJS) which funds, among many agencies and government departments, the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the Fiscal Year 2006.

Under this bill the NSF will receive $5.65 billion, an increase of $181 million over last year and $49 million above the budget request. The bill includes $4.39 billion for research, $167 million over last year; and $807 million for education and human resources, $70 million above the request.

This funding does represent a slight improvement from the budget request and a rebound from a budget cut in 2005. 1 Additionally, it's important to keep in mind that set against an overall Bush Administration plan to reduce spending on domestic programs by -1.0%, this outcome for NSF is considerably better than expected. However, in real dollar terms, the $5.6 billion total is a loss of nearly 4 percent to inflation from the same $5.6 billion 2004 total. 2 The 2006 total includes $48 million in polar icebreaking costs previously funded by the Coast Guard, and the 2006 R&D portfolio barely matches the 2003 level in inflation-adjusted dollars. These smaller increases and new priorities in recent years have created downward pressures on NSF grant sizes and success rates.

This may not be the last word on NSF funding, as Congress is exploring a range of options to pay for Gulf Coast hurricane damage. One alternative is reaching back to reduce all FY 2006 appropriations by two or three percent.

1 AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
2 AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program