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Science Policy Announcements

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Resource Book Now Available

Click here for more info on The APS Resource Book for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols.

Congress Finalizes FY 2008 Funding for Research

• NIH |
• NSF |
• Veterans Affairs |
• NASA

On December 19, 2007, nearly three months after the start of the 2008 fiscal year, Congress approved the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 (H.R. 2764) to fund most federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA and the VA. Despite objecting to the number of earmarks included in the legislation, President Bush signed the bill into law on December 26. Funding levels for key research agencies are outlined below.

National Institutes of Health

In FY 2008, the NIH will receive a total of $29.2 billion, a 1.1% ($329 million) increase over FY 2007 funding. However, an additional $196 million will be transferred to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, leaving the NIH with $28.9 billion, a mere 0.46% increase over last year. This will be the fourth consecutive year that the NIH budget increase has failed to keep place with the rate of inflation for biomedical research, estimated at 3.7% for FY 2008. President Bush vetoed an earlier version of the funding measure that would have provided the NIH with an additional $1 billion in 2008.

While the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 will essentially provide flat funding or modest increases for most institutes and centers in 2008, some programs will receive increases. The National Children’s Health Study will receive an additional $42 million (for a total of $111 million), and the Common Fund for trans-NIH initiatives will grow to $495 million with a $12 million increase over last year.

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National Science Foundation

The NSF will receive an increase of 2.5% ($148 million) in FY 2008, bringing the agency’s total budget to $6.065 billion. This is a disappointing outcome on the heels of the America COMPETES Act of 2007, authorizing legislation that called for putting the agency on track to double its budget over the next several years. The funding level also falls short of the Administration’s budget request that called for an 8.7% increase over FY 2007. Education programs at NSF received a boost of 4% over last year, faring better than research programs, which grew by only 1.2%.

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Veterans Affairs

Funding for Medical and Prosthetic research at the VA was the bright spot in this year’s funding bill, with the program receiving $480 million in FY 2008, a 16.5% ($68 million) increase over last year.

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NASA

Funding for NASA’s overall budget increased by 3.1% to a total of $17.3 billion in FY 2008. While this is a positive result for the agency, the increasing costs of the space shuttle, international space station and other competing priorities have strained the agency’s ability to fund science programs.

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