FY 2015 S&T Administration Budget Requests: The Ups and Downs

The FY 2015 appropriations cycle is underway. Next week House appropriations subcommittees will consider the budget requests for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and the National Science Foundation. The appropriations committees will have little additional money to work with. An agreement between Congress and the Obama Administration that was codified into law limits the increase in total discretionary funding in FY 2015 to just 0.2 percent.

Before turning to congressional action on the FY 2015 requests, a last look at the Administration’s budget requests for agencies and programs tracked by FYI. The following lists percentage changes in various S&T and STEM education requests, as compared to current FY 2014 budgets, ranging from a high of a 33.2 percent increase for a STEM education program at the National Science Foundation to a requested decrease of 23.8 percent for education programs at the NASA. Information on the budget requests, with links to documents, can be found here .

+ 33.2 percent: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education, National Science Foundation
+ 25.8 percent: Naval Reactors, National Nuclear Security Administration
+ 22.5 percent: Space Technology, NASA
+ 13.2 percent: Advanced Scientific Computing Research, DOE Office of Science
+ 13.0 percent: Climate and Land Use Change, U.S. Geological Survey
+ 12.6 percent: Industrial Technology Services, NIST
+ 8.3 percent: Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, NOAA
+ 8.3 percent: Energy, Minerals, and Environmental Health, U.S. Geological Survey
+ 8.1 percent: U.S. Arctic Research Commission, National Science Foundation
+ 7.9 percent: National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, NOAA
+ 6.9 percent: Weapons Activities, National Nuclear Security Administration
+ 6.4 percent: Undergraduate STEM Education Programs, National Science Foundation
+ 6.3 percent: Facilities, U.S. Geological Survey
+ 6.0 percent: Ecosystems, U.S. Geological Survey
+ 5.9 percent: National Institute of Standards and Technology (total)
+ 5.5 percent: Basic Energy Sciences, DOE Office of Science
+ 5.4 percent: Construction of Research Facilities, NIST
+ 5.1 percent: Education and Human Resources, National Science Foundation
+ 4.5 percent: Science and Technical Research and Services, NIST
+ 4.3 percent: Nuclear Physics, DOE Office of Science
+ 4.2 percent: National Ocean Service, NOAA
+ 4.0 percent: National Nuclear Security Administration (total)
+ 4.0 percent: U.S. Geological Survey (total)
+ 3.4 percent: Space Operations, NASA
+ 3.3 percent: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (total)
+ 3.0 percent: Biological and Environmental Research, DOE Office of Science
+ 2.8 percent: Graduate STEM Education Programs, National Science Foundation
+ 1.5 percent: Water Resources, U.S. Geological Survey
+ 1.2 percent: National Science Foundation (total)
+ 0.9 percent: DOE Office of Science (total)
+ 0.9 percent: Total Defense-Wide (DARPA) 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 S&T Programs
+ 0.7 percent: National Institutes of Health (total)
+ 0.6 percent: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, NIH
+ 0.6 percent: Core Science Systems, U.S. Geological Survey
+ 0.4 percent: Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction, National Science Foundation
+ 0.3 percent: Materials Research, National Science Foundation

+ 0.2 percent: increase in total discretionary spending in FY 2015

+ 0.1 percent: Geosciences, National Science Foundation
Unchanged: Outreach and Informal STEM Education Programs, National Science Foundation
Unchanged: Advanced Technological Education, National Science Foundation
- 0.03 percent: Research and Related Activities, National Science Foundation
- 0.1 percent: Natural Hazards, U.S. Geological Survey
- 0.4 percent: National Weather Service, NOAA
- 0.5 percent: Cross Agency Support, NASA
- 0.5 percent: Mathematical Sciences, National Science Foundation
- 1.0 percent: Physics, National Science Foundation
- 1.1 percent: NASA (total)
- 1.2 percent: Astronomical Sciences, National Science Foundation
- 2.2 percent: Science Support, U.S. Geological Survey
- 2.6 percent: Aeronautics, NASA
- 3.1 percent: Advanced Technology Development (6.3), Department of Defense
- 3.3 percent: Exploration, NASA
- 3.5 percent: Science, NASA
- 4.0 percent: Applied Research (6.2), Department of Defense
- 4.1 percent: Total 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 S&T Programs, Department of Defense
- 5.2 percent: Total Navy 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 S&T Programs
- 6.6 percent: High Energy Physics, DOE Office of Science
- 6.9 percent: Basic Research (6.1), Department of Defense
- 7.7 percent: Total Air Force 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 S&T Programs
- 10.2 percent: Total Army 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 S&T Programs
- 13.4 percent: Construction and Environmental Compliance and Restoration, NASA
- 16.4 percent: K-12 STEM Education Programs, National Science Foundation
- 17.6 percent: Fusion Energy Sciences, DOE Office of Science
- 20.4 percent: Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, National Nuclear Security Administration
- 23.8 percent: Education, NASA