SSTI Digest

In Part 1 of this two-part series, SSTI examined NIH’s proposed changes that will place limits on individual researcher funding. In Part 2, impacts of the limits are explored.

The president’s budget for FY 2018 would eliminate funding for numerous innovation programs, slash spending on R&D and technology transfer and limit education and training opportunities. The full budget proposal may well be “dead on arrival” in Congress, but this is not the same as Congress rejecting each budget proposal. These cuts threaten America’s long-term economic, medical and security interests — described by WIRED as “science insurance” — but cuts to Medicaid and Meals-on-Wheels will continue to receive the bulk of national attention. If federal spending for science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship is to remain a national priority, the best — and likely, only — advocates will be the practitioners, researchers, investors and entrepreneurs who experience these initiatives on a daily basis. In short: you.

Unless otherwise noted, all FY 2018 figures are from the department’s budget justification, and all FY 2017 figures are from committee reports for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017.

The president’s FY 2018 request for discretionary budget authority to fund programs and operating expenses is $21.0 billion, approximately $4.8 billion below the 2017 estimate in discretionary program funding for the Department of Agriculture (USDA). This includes funding for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Rural Development, Forest Service, food safety, research, and conservation activities. However, the budget does not include the USDA reorganization plan that was announced by Secretary Sonny Perdue on May 11, which proposes a change in status for Rural Development.

Research, Education, and Economics

Unless otherwise noted, all FY 2018 figures are from the department’s budget justification, and all FY 2017 figures are from committee reports for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017.

The Department of Commerce houses a variety of science- and innovation-relevant agencies, most of which receive substantial cuts in the administration’s FY 2018 budget. Collectively, Commerce would lose many of its initiatives targeted to entrepreneurs, most notably the Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).

Economic Development Administration

Unless otherwise noted, all FY 2018 figures are from the department’s budget justification, and all FY 2017 figures are from DoD’s FY 2017 request with continuing resolution adjustments.

Unless otherwise noted, all FY 2018 figures are from the department’s budget justification, and all FY 2017 figures are from committee reports for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017.

The president’s proposed FY 2018 budget would provide $976.9 million in total funding for Career and Technical Education (CTE) within the U.S. Department of Education, a $148.1 million (13.2 percent) decrease. National CTE programs would receive $27.4 million in the proposed budget, a $20 million (270.3 percent) increase. State grant-based CTE programs would receive $949.5 million in FY 2018, a $168.1 million (15 percent) decrease. 

Funding for notable programs such as Pell Grants ($22.4 billion) and Minority Science and Engineering Improvement ($9.6 million) would not see their funding levels change from the FY 2017 enacted budget.

Unless otherwise noted, all FY 2018 figures are from the department’s budget justification, and all FY 2017 figures are from committee reports for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017.

Unless otherwise noted, all FY 2018 figures are from the department’s budget justification, and all FY 2017 figures are from committee reports for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017.

The administration’s FY 2018 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is $69.8 billion in discretionary spending, reflecting a $14.6 billion (17.3 percent) decrease from FY 2017 estimated funding levels. Discretionary spending accounts for approximately 7 percent of the total proposed HHS budget. Mandatory spending for programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program account for the balance. Total FY 2018 budget authority for HHS would be $1.1 trillion (0.03 percent increase over FY 2017 estimates).  

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Unless otherwise noted, all FY 2018 figures are from the department’s budget justification, and all FY 2017 figures are from committee reports for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017.

The administration’s FY 2018 budget request for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is $44.1 billion, a $5.2 billion (10.5 percent) decrease in non-disaster, net discretionary funding, excluding disaster-relief funding. The proposed budget would include $975.8 million in new funding for “high-priority tactical infrastructure and border security technology improvements to provide a layered defense at the border and effective surveillance technology and equipment.”

Unless otherwise noted, all FY 2018 figures are from the department’s budget justification, and all FY 2017 figures are from committee reports for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017.

Notably, the president’s proposed FY 2018 budget would eliminate funding for Community Development Block Grants. These grants received $3.0 billion in the FY 2017 budget.

The proposed FY 2018 budget would provide $85.0 million for research and technology at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a $4.0 million (4.5 percent) decrease from FY 2017.

The Jobs-Plus program, which provides workforce development training for public housing residents, would receive $10.0 million under the proposed FY 2018 budget, a $5.0 million (33.3 percent) reduction from FY 2017. 

Unless otherwise noted, all FY 2018 figures are from the department’s budget justification, and all FY 2017 figures are from committee reports for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017.

Interior includes several bureaus and offices that fund R&D and conduct tech transfer activities, all of which would receive less funding under the FY 2018 budget proposal. The Bureau of Reclamation would receive $14 million for R&D, a decrease of $20.6 million (59.5 percent); the Fish and Wildlife Service’s science support activities are proposed for elimination ($17 million in FY 2017); and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s technology development and transfer funding would be reduced by $2.4 million to $12.8 million (15.8 percent decrease).

Unless otherwise noted, all FY 2018 figures are from the department’s budget justification, and all FY 2017 figures are from committee reports for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) would receive $27.7 billion in FY 2018 discretionary funding under the president’s budget request, a $1.2 billion (4.2 percent) decrease.

For the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the budget request includes $111 million for Research, Evaluation, and Statistics activities – a $22 million (24.8 percent) increase.