Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
Congressional research reportOct 4, 2018
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Federal Research and Development (R&D)
Funding: FY2019
(name redacted), Coordinator
Specialist in Science and Technology Policy
Updated October 4, 2018
Congressional Research Service
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R45150
SUMMARY
Federal Research and Development (R&D)
Funding: FY2019
R45150
October 4, 2018
(name redacted),
Coordinator
President Trump’s budget request for FY2019 includes approximately $131.0 billion for
Specialist in Science and
research and development (R&D), of which $118.056 billion is included in the
Technology Policy
President’s budget and an estimated additional $12.9 billion in nondefense discretionary
-redacted-@crs.loc.gov
R&D is requested as part of an addendum to the President’s budget. The additional
funding requested in the addendum followed enactment of the Bipartisan Budget Act of
For a copy of the full report,
2018 (P.L. 115-123), which raised defense and nondefense discretionary spending caps
please call 7-.... or visit
www.crs.gov.
for FY2018 and FY2019. In April 2018, the Administration issued amendments to the
President’s request, including language needed to clarify the funds requested in the
addendum. Agencies appear to have included this proposed funding in their budget justifications, and this funding
is included in the agency analyses in this report.
Final FY2018 funding had not been enacted at the time the President’s FY2019 budget was prepared; therefore,
the budget included the FY2017 actual funding levels, 2018 annualized continuing resolution (CR) levels, and the
FY2019 request levels. Subsequent to the release of the President’s budget, Congress enacted the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141), appropriating full-year funding for FY2018, rendering the CR levels
identified in the budget no longer relevant. The analysis of government-wide R&D funding in this report
preceding the individual agency analyses compares the President’s request for FY2019 to the FY2017 level. As
information about the agencies’ FY2018 R&D levels becomes available, the agency sections of this report will be
updated to reflect that information and to make comparisons to the President’s FY2019 request; some agency
sections have been updated. As of the date of this report, the House had completed action on 6 of the 12 regular
appropriations bills; the Senate had completed action on 9; 5 had been enacted as law. Division C of P.L. 115-245
provides for continuing appropriations for the agencies included in the remaining seven bills until December 7,
2018. This report will be updated as Congress acts to complete the FY2019 appropriations process.
In FY2018, OMB adopted a change to the definition of development, applying a more narrow treatment it
describes as “experimental development.” This approach was intended to better harmonize the reporting of U.S.
R&D funding data with the approach used by other nations. The new definition is used in this report. Under the
new definition of R&D (applied to both FY2017 and FY2019 figures), and including the estimated $12.9 billion
included in the budget addendum, President Trump is requesting approximately $131.0 billion for R&D for
FY2019, an increase of $5.7 billion (4.5%) above the FY2017 level. OMB notes that under the previous
definition, total federal R&D would be $38.7 billion higher, or approximately $170 billion. Adjusted for inflation,
the President’s FY2019 R&D request represents an increase of 1.2% above the FY2017 level.
Funding for R&D is largely concentrated among a few departments and agencies. In FY2017, eight federal
agencies received 96.3% of total federal R&D funding, with the Department of Defense (39.3%) and the
Department of Health and Human Services (27.3%) combined accounting for more than two-thirds of all federal
R&D funding. President’s Trump’s FY2019 budget is largely silent on funding levels for a number of
multiagency R&D initiatives. However, some activities supporting these initiatives are discussed in agency budget
justifications and are reported in the agency analyses in this report.
The request represents the President’s R&D priorities; Congress may opt to agree with none, part, or all of the
request, and it may express different priorities through the appropriations process.
In recent years, Congress has completed the annual appropriations process after the start of the fiscal year. Failure
to complete the process by the start of the fiscal year and the accompanying use of continuing resolutions can
affect agencies’ execution of their R&D budgets, including the delay or cancellation of planned R&D activities
and the acquisition of R&D-related equipment.
Congressional Research Service
Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
The President’s FY2019 Budget Request........................................................................................ 3
Federal R&D Funding Perspectives ................................................................................................ 4
Federal R&D by Agency ........................................................................................................... 4
Federal R&D by Character of Work, Facilities, and Equipment ............................................... 6
Federal Role in U.S. R&D by Character of Work ..................................................................... 6
Federal R&D by Agency and Character of Work Combined .................................................... 7
Multiagency R&D Initiatives .......................................................................................................... 8
Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program
(NITRD) ................................................................................................................................. 9
U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) ............................................................... 10
National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) ............................................................................. 10
Other Initiatives........................................................................................................................ 11
FY2019 Appropriations Status ...................................................................................................... 12
Department of Defense .................................................................................................................. 14
Department of Health and Human Services .................................................................................. 21
National Institutes of Health ................................................................................................... 21
Department of Energy ................................................................................................................... 31
National Aeronautics and Space Administration ........................................................................... 34
National Science Foundation ......................................................................................................... 36
Department of Agriculture ............................................................................................................. 40
Agricultural Research Service ................................................................................................. 40
National Institute of Food and Agriculture ............................................................................. 41
National Agricultural Statistics Service .................................................................................. 42
Economic Research Service .................................................................................................... 42
Department of Commerce ............................................................................................................. 43
National Institute of Standards and Technology ..................................................................... 43
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ................................................................ 45
Department of the Interior ............................................................................................................. 47
U.S. Geological Survey ........................................................................................................... 48
Other DOI Components .......................................................................................................... 49
Department of Veterans Affairs ..................................................................................................... 50
Department of Transportation........................................................................................................ 53
Federal Aviation Administration ............................................................................................. 53
Federal Highway Administration ............................................................................................ 54
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ................................................................... 54
Other DOT Components ......................................................................................................... 54
Department of Homeland Security ................................................................................................ 56
Environmental Protection Agency ................................................................................................. 57
Workforce Reshaping .............................................................................................................. 61
General and Administrative Provisions ................................................................................... 62
Congressional Research Service
Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
Figures
Figure 1. Composition of U.S. Basic Research, Applied Research, and Development by
Funding Sector, 2016.................................................................................................................... 7
Tables
Table 1. Federal Research and Development Funding by Agency, FY2017 and FY2019 .............. 5
Table 2. Federal R&D Funding by Character of Work and Facilities and Equipment,
FY2017 and FY2019 .................................................................................................................... 6
Table 3. Selected R&D Funding Agencies by Character of Work, Facilities,
and Equipment, FY2017 and FY2019 .......................................................................................... 8
Table 4. Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program
Funding, FY2017-FY2019 ........................................................................................................... 9
Table 5. U.S. Global Change Research Program Funding, FY2017-FY2019 ............................... 10
Table 6. National Nanotechnology Initiative Funding, FY2017-FY2019 ...................................... 11
Table 7. Alignment of Agency R&D Funding and Regular Appropriations Bills ......................... 13
Table 8. Department of Defense RDT&E ..................................................................................... 18
Table 9. National Institutes of Health Funding.............................................................................. 29
Table 10. Department of Energy R&D and Related Activities ...................................................... 33
Table 11. National Aeronautics and Space Administration R&D .................................................. 35
Table 12. National Science Foundation Funding........................................................................... 39
Table 13. U.S. Department of Agriculture R&D ........................................................................... 42
Table 14. National Institute of Standards and Technology Funding.............................................. 44
Table 15. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration R&D ............................................. 47
Table 16. Department of the Interior R&D.................................................................................... 50
Table 17. Department of Veterans Affairs R&D ............................................................................ 52
Table 18. Department of Veterans Affairs Amounts by Designated Research Areas .................... 52
Table 19. Department of Transportation R&D Activities and Facilities........................................ 55
Table 20. Department of Homeland Security R&D Accounts ....................................................... 57
Table 21. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science and Technology (S&T)
Account ...................................................................................................................................... 62
Appendixes
Appendix A. Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................................... 65
Appendix B. CRS Contacts for Agency R&D ............................................................................... 70
Contacts
Author Contact Information .......................................................................................................... 71
Congressional Research Service
Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
Introduction
The 115th Congress continues its interest in U.S. research and development (R&D) and in
evaluating support for federal R&D activities. The federal government has played an important
role in supporting R&D efforts that have led to scientific breakthroughs and new technologies,
from jet aircraft and the internet to communications satellites, shale gas extraction, and defenses
against disease. In recent years, widespread concerns about the federal debt, recent and projected
federal budget deficits, and federal budget caps have driven difficult decisions about the
prioritization of R&D, both in the context of the entire federal budget and among competing
needs within the federal R&D portfolio. While these factors continue to exist, increases in the
budget caps for FY2018 and FY2019 may reduce some of the pressure affecting these decisions.
The U.S. government supports a broad range of scientific and engineering R&D. Its purposes
include specific concerns such as addressing national defense, health, safety, the environment,
and energy security; advancing knowledge generally; developing the scientific and engineering
workforce; and strengthening U.S. innovation and competitiveness in the global economy. Most
of the R&D funded by the federal government is performed in support of the unique missions of
individual funding agencies.
The federal R&D budget is an aggregation of the R&D activities of these agencies. There is no
single, centralized source of R&D funds. Agency R&D budgets are developed internally as part
of each agency’s overall budget development process. R&D funding may be included either in
accounts that are entirely devoted to R&D or in accounts that include funding for non-R&D
activities. Agency budgets are subjected to review, revision, and approval by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) and become part of the President’s annual budget submission to
Congress. The federal R&D budget is then calculated by aggregating the R&D activities of each
federal agency.
Congress plays a central role in defining the nation’s R&D priorities as it makes decisions about
the level and allocation of R&D funding—overall, within agencies, and for specific programs.
Some Members of Congress have expressed concerns about the level of federal spending (for
R&D and for other purposes) in light of the federal deficit and debt. Other Members of Congress
have expressed support for increased federal spending for R&D as an investment in the nation’s
future competitiveness. As Congress acts to complete the FY2019 appropriations process, it faces
two overarching issues: the amount of the federal budget to be spent on federal R&D and the
prioritization and allocation of the available funding.
This report begins with a discussion of the overall level of President Trump’s FY2019 R&D
request, followed by analyses of the R&D funding request from a variety of perspectives and for
selected multiagency R&D initiatives. The remainder of the report then provides discussion and
analysis of the R&D budget requests of selected federal departments and agencies that,
collectively, account for approximately 99% of total federal R&D funding.
Selected terms associated with federal R&D funding are defined in the text box on the next page.
Appendix A provides a list of acronyms and abbreviations.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
Definitions Associated with Federal Research and Development Funding
Two key sources of definitions associated with federal research and development funding are the White House
Office of Management and Budget and the National Science Foundation.
Office of Management and Budget. The Office of Management and Budget provides the following definitions
of R&D-related terms in OMB Circular No. A-11, “Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget” (July
2017).1 This document provides guidance to agencies in the preparation of the President’s annual budget and
instructions on budget execution. As reflected in the July 2017 update, OMB has adopted a refinement to the
categories of R&D, replacing “development” with “experimental development,” which more narrowly defines the
set of activities to be included, resulting in lower reported R&D by some agencies, including the Department of
Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This definition is used in the President’s FY2019
budget.
Conduct of R&D. Research and experimental development (R&D) activities are defined as creative and
systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge—including knowledge of people,
culture, and society—and to devise new applications using available knowledge.
Basic Research. Basic research is defined as experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to
acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts. Basic research may
include activities with broad or general applications in mind, but should exclude research directed towards a
specific application or requirement.
Applied Research. Applied research is defined as original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new
knowledge. Applied research is, however, directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective.
Experimental Development. Experimental development is defined as creative and systematic work,
drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience, which is directed at producing new
products or processes or improving existing products or processes. Like research, experimental development
will result in gaining additional knowledge.
R&D Equipment. R&D equipment includes amounts for major equipment for research and development.
Includes acquisition, design, or production of major movable equipment, such as mass spectrometers, research
vessels, DNA sequencers, and other major movable instruments for use in R&D activities. Includes programs
of $1 million or more that are devoted to the purchase or construction of major R&D equipment
R&D Facilities. R&D facilities includes amounts for the construction of facilities that are necessary for the
execution of an R&D program. This may include land, major fixed equipment, and supporting infrastructure
such as a sewer line or housing at a remote location.
National Science Board/National Science Foundation. The National Science Board/National Science
Foundation provides the following definitions of R&D-related terms in its Science and Engineering Indicators: 2018
report.2
Research and Development (R&D): Research and experimental development comprise creative and
systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge—including knowledge of humankind, culture,
and society—and its use to devise new applications of available knowledge.
Basic Research: Experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the
underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view.
Applied Research: Original investigation undertaken to acquire new knowledge; directed primarily,
however, toward a specific, practical aim or objective.
Experimental Development: Systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical
experience and producing additional knowledge, which is directed to producing new products or processes or
to improving existing products or processes.
1 The White House, Office of Management and Budget, Circular No. A-11, “Preparation, Submission, and Execution of
the Budget,” July 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/assets/a11_current_year/
a11_2017.pdf.
2 National Science Board/National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators 2018, January 2018,
https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
The President’s FY2019 Budget Request
On February 12, 2018, President Trump released his proposed FY2019 budget. In addition, on the
same day, OMB issued an addendum that includes a request for an additional $12.9 billion in
nondiscretionary R&D funding.3 According to OMB, the request for these additional funds was
made possible by changes to spending caps in the Budget Control Act (BCA; P.L. 112-25) that
were enacted on February 9, 2018, in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-123).
In FY2018, the Trump Administration began using a new definition for development in its R&D
calculations (“experimental development”). The new definition excludes some development
activities, primarily at the Department of Defense (DOD) and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), that had been characterized as development in previous budgets. The
new definition (experimental development) is used throughout this report for FY2017 and
FY2019, except in the section “Department of Defense.” According to OMB, the funds no longer
included in the definition of development are, nevertheless, “requested in the FY 2019 budget
request and support the development efforts to upgrade systems that have been fielded or have
received approval for full rate production and anticipate production funding in the current or
subsequent fiscal year.”4 (See box below entitled “Caveats with Respect to Analysis of the
FY2019 Budget Request” for additional information.)
Subsequent to the release of the President’s budget, Congress enacted the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141), appropriating full-year funding for FY2018, rendering
the CR levels identified in the budget no longer relevant. Therefore, the analysis of governmentwide R&D funding in this report preceding the individual agency analyses compares the
President’s request for FY2019 to the FY2017 level. As information about the agencies’ FY2018
R&D levels becomes available, the agency sections of this report will be updated to reflect that
information and to make comparisons to the President’s FY2019 request; some agency sections
have been updated.
Under the new definition of R&D, and including the $12.9 billion proposed in the addendum,
President Trump is proposing approximately $131.0 billion for R&D for FY2019, an increase of
$5.7 billion above the FY2017 level (4.5%). Adjusted for inflation, the President’s FY2019 R&D
request represents a constant-dollar increase of 1.2% from the FY2017 actual level.5
The President’s R&D request includes continued funding for existing single-agency and
multiagency programs and activities, as well as new initiatives. This report provides governmentwide, multiagency, and individual agency analyses of the President’s FY2019 request as it relates
to R&D and related activities. Additional information and analysis will be included as the House
and Senate act on the President’s budget request through appropriations bills.
3 According to OMB, the office only has this “very high-level estimate available at this time,” and that the figure may
be refined during summer 2018 as part of the regular budget process. Email communication between OMB and CRS,
February 23, 2018. The addendum is available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/
Addendum-to-the-FY-2019-Budget.pdf. On April 13, 2018, OMB issued amendments to the President’s FY2019
request. In addition, the amendments include the appropriations language needed to formally reflect the funds included
in the Addendum. The amendments are available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/supplementals-amendments-andreleases/.
4 Executive Office of the President (EOP), OMB, Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government,
Fiscal Year 2019, February 12, 2018, p. 240, https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Analytical_Perspectives.
5 As calculated by CRS using the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (chained) price index for FY2017 and FY2019 in
Table 10.1, “Gross Domestic Product and Deflators Used in the Historical Tables: 1940–2022,” Budget of the United
States Government, Fiscal Year 2019, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hist10z1-fy2019.xlsx.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
Caveats for Analysis of the FY2019 Budget Request
Several factors complicate the analysis of changes in R&D funding for FY2019, both in aggregate and for selected
agencies. For example:
The President’s FY2019 budget does not include FY2018 enacted budget authority levels because the FY2018
budget process had not been completed at the time the FY2019 budget was prepared. In the absence of final
enacted FY2018 appropriations, the government-wide R&D analysis in this report (preceding the agency
analyses) compares FY2019 request levels to FY2017 enacted levels. For each of the agency analyses, the
FY2019 request levels will be updated to provide a comparison of FY2019 request levels to the FY2018
enacted levels as the FY2018 enacted R&D funding levels become available; some agencies have been updated
accordingly.
The analysis of the request, by agency, in the overview section of this report does not reflect the estimated
$12.9 billion in additional nondefense discretionary R&D proposed in the President’s budget addendum for
FY2019. The additional funds requested in the addendum are included in the agency analyses, where noted.
These funds could substantially affect the magnitude of some nondefense agencies’ R&D budgets.
Beginning in FY2018, OMB replaced the R&D category “development” with a subset referred to as
“experimental development” in an effort that OMB asserts would better align its data with the survey data
collected by the National Science Foundation, and to be consistent with international standards. Using the old
definition of development, total requested funding for FY2019 would be approximately $170 billion, $39
billion more than under the new definition. Similarly, FY2017 (actual) funding would include an additional $30
billion in development, bringing that total to approximately $155 billion.
In addition, inconsistency among agencies in the reporting of R&D and the inclusion of R&D activities in accounts
with non-R&D activities may result in different figures being reported by OMB and the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), including those shown in Table 1, and those in agency budget analyses
that appear later in this report.
Federal R&D Funding Perspectives
Federal R&D funding can be analyzed from a variety of perspectives that provide different
insights. The following sections examine the data by agency, by the character of the work
supported, and by a combination of these two perspectives.
Federal R&D by Agency
Congress makes decisions about R&D funding through the authorization and appropriations
processes primarily from the perspective of individual agencies and programs. Table 1 provides
data on R&D funding by agency for FY2017 (actual) and FY2019 (request).6 Funding data for
FY2018 were not included in the Trump Administration’s FY2019 budget because the FY2018
budget had not been completed at the time the FY2019 budget request was released.
Under President Trump’s FY2019 budget request, eight federal agencies would receive more than
96% of total federal R&D funding: the Department of Defense, 48.4%; Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS), primarily the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 20.9%; Department of
Energy (DOE), 10.7%; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 9.0%; National Science
Foundation (NSF), 3.5%; Department of Agriculture (USDA), 1.6%; Department of Commerce
(DOC), 1.2%; and Veterans Affairs (VA), 1.1%. This report provides an analysis of the R&D
budget requests for these agencies, as well as for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
6 EOP, OMB, Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2019, February 12, 2018,
pp. 238-239, https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Analytical_Perspectives.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Transportation (DOT), and Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).
Excluding the $12.9 billion in R&D funding requested in the addendum, nearly every federal
agency would see its R&D funding decrease under the President’s FY2019 request compared to
their FY2017 levels. The only agencies with increased R&D funding in FY2019 would be DOD
(up $7.959 billion, 16.2%), the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute,7 (up $159 million,
34.3%), and the Smithsonian Institution (up $20 million, 8.0%).
The largest declines (as measured in dollars) would occur in the budgets of HHS (down $9.480
billion, 27.7%), DOE (down $2.211 billion, 14.8%), NSF (down $1.761 billion, 29.7%), USDA
(down $671 million, 26.0%), and the DOC (down $433 million, 24.1%).
Table 1. Federal Research and Development Funding by Agency, FY2017 and FY2019
(budget authority, dollar amounts in millions)
Change,
FY2017-FY2019
Department/Agency
FY2017
Actual
Department of Defense
49,197
57,156
7,959
16.2%
Department of Health and Human Services
34,222
24,742
-9,480
-27.7%
Department of Energy
14,896
12,685
-2,211
-14.8%
NASA
10,704
10,651
-53
-0.5%
National Science Foundation
5,938
4,177
-1,761
-29.7%
Department of Agriculture
2,585
1,914
-671
-26.0%
Department of Commerce
1,794
1,361
-433
-24.1%
Department of Veterans Affairs
1,346
1,345
-1
-0.1%
Department of Transportation
904
826
-78
-8.6%
Department of the Interior
953
759
-194
-20.4%
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institutea
463
622
159
34.3%
Department of Homeland Security
724
548
-176
-24.3%
Smithsonian Institution
251
271
20
8.0%
Environmental Protection Agency
497
269
-228
-45.9%
Department of Education
254
240
-14
-5.5%
Other
561
490
-71
-12.7%
$125,289
$118,056
-$7,233
-5.8%
~12,900
~12,900
n/a
~$131,000
~$5,700
~4.5%
Total, Base Budget
Addendum to the FY2019 Request (estimated)
Total, with Addendum
$125,289
FY2019
Request
Percent,
Total
Dollar
Source: CRS analysis of data from Executive Office of the President (EOP), Office of Management and Budget,
Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2019, February 12, 2018, pp. 238-239,
7 The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute is funded through the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust
Fund, which was established by Congress under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148). For
more information, see https://www.pcori.org/.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Analytical_Perspectives; Addendum to the President’s FY2019 Budget to
Account for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/
Addendum-to-the-FY-2019-Budget.pdf; and email communication between OMB and CRS, February 23, 2018.
Notes: Components may not sum to totals due to rounding. FY2017 and FY2019 amounts exclude nonexperimental development funding. n/a = not applicable.
a. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute is funded through the Patient-Centered Outcomes
Research Trust Fund, which was established by Congress under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act (P.L. 111-148). For more information, see https://www.pcori.org/.
Federal R&D by Character of Work, Facilities, and Equipment
Federal R&D funding can also be examined by the character of work it supports—basic research,
applied research, or development—and by funding provided for construction of R&D facilities
and acquisition of major R&D equipment. (See Table 2.) President Trump’s FY2019 request
includes $27.341 billion for basic research, down $6.986 billion (20.4%) from FY2017; $31.648
billion for applied research, down $6.500 billion (17.0%); $56.696 billion for development, up
$6.333 billion (12.6%); and $2.371 billion for facilities and equipment, down $80 million (3.3%).
Table 2. Federal R&D Funding by Character of Work and Facilities and Equipment,
FY2017 and FY2019
(budget authority, dollar amounts in millions)
Change, FY2017-FY2019
Character of Work, Facilities,
and Equipment
FY2017
Actual
FY2019
Request
Basic research
34,327
27,341
-6,986
-20.4%
Applied research
38,148
31,648
-6,500
-17.0%
Development
50,363
56,696
6,333
12.6%
Facilities and Equipment
2,451
2,371
-80
-3.3%
125,289
118,056
-7,233
-5.8%
Total
Dollar
Percent,
Total
Source: CRS analysis of data from Executive Office of the President (EOP), Office of Management and Budget,
Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2019, February 12, 2018, pp. 238-240,
https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Analytical_Perspectives.
Notes: Components may not sum to totals due to rounding. Does not include estimated $12.9 billion in R&D
funding included in the Addendum to the President’s FY2019 Budget to Account for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
Federal Role in U.S. R&D by Character of Work
A primary policy justification for public investments in basic research and for incentives (e.g., tax
credits) for the private sector to conduct research is the view, widely held by economists, that the
private sector will, left on its own, underinvest in basic research from a societal perspective. The
usual argument for this view is that the social returns (i.e., the benefits to society at large) exceed
the private returns (i.e., the benefits accruing to the private investor, such as increased revenues or
higher stock value). Other factors that may inhibit corporate investment in basic research include
long time horizons for achieving commercial applications (diminishing the potential returns due
to the time value of money), high levels of technical risk/uncertainty, shareholder demands for
shorter-term returns, and asymmetric and imperfect information.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
The federal government is the nation’s largest supporter of basic research, funding 44% of U.S.
basic research in 2016. Business funded 27% of U.S. basic research in 2016, with state
governments, universities, and other nonprofit organizations funding the remaining 29%. For U.S.
applied research, business is the primary funder, accounting for an estimated 53% in 2016, while
the federal government accounted for an estimated 35%. State governments, universities, and
other nonprofit organizations funded the remaining 12%. Business also provides the vast majority
of U.S. funding for development. Business accounted for 82% of development funding in 2016,
while the federal government provided 16%. State governments, universities, and other nonprofit
organizations funded the remaining 2% (see Figure 1).8
Figure 1. Composition of U.S. Basic Research, Applied Research, and Development
by Funding Sector, 2016
Source: CRS analysis of unpublished preliminary data from the National Science Foundation, National Patterns of
R&D Resources.
Note: Components may not add to total due to rounding.
Federal R&D by Agency and Character of Work Combined
Federal R&D funding can also be viewed from the combined perspective of each agency’s
contribution to basic research, applied research, development, and facilities and equipment.
(Table 3 lists the three agencies with the most funding for each character of work classification.)
The overall federal R&D budget reflects a wide range of national priorities, including supporting
advances in spaceflight, developing new and affordable sources of energy, and understanding and
deterring terrorist groups. These priorities and the mission of each individual agency contribute to
the composition of that agency’s R&D spending (i.e., the allocation among basic research,
applied research, development, and facilities and equipment). In the President’s FY2019 budget
request, the Department of Health and Human Services, primarily NIH, would account for nearly
half (44.3%) of all federal funding for basic research. HHS would also be the largest federal
funder of applied research, accounting for about 39.0% of all federally funded applied research in
the President’s FY2019 budget request. DOD would be the primary federal funder of
development, accounting for 87.4% of total federal development funding in the President’s
FY2019 budget request.9
8 CRS analysis of unpublished preliminary data for FY2016 from the National Science Foundation, National Patterns
of R&D Resources. More recent data regarding business and other R&D funding are not yet available. Components
may not add to total due to rounding.
9 EOP, OMB, Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2019, February 12, 2018,
pp. 238-240, https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Analytical_Perspectives.
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Table 3. Selected R&D Funding Agencies by Character of Work, Facilities,
and Equipment, FY2017 and FY2019
(budget authority, dollar amounts in millions)
FY2017
Actual
Character of Work/Agency
FY2019
Request
Change, FY2017FY2019
Dollars
Percent
Basic Research
Dept. of Health and Human Services
$16,701
$12,114
-$4,587
-27.5%
NASA
3,607
4,150
+543
+15.1%
National Science Foundation
4,739
3,402
-1,337
-28.2%
Dept. of Health and Human Services
17,356
12,348
-5,008
-28.9%
Dept. of Energy
6,491
5,885
-606
-9.3%
Dept. of Defense
5,276
5,239
-37
-0.7%
Dept. of Defense
41,545
49,579
+8,034
+19.3%
NASA
4,569
3,734
-835
-18.3%
Dept. of Energy
2,488
1865
-623
-25.0%
1,115
1,537
+422
+37.8%
Dept. of Health and Human Services
138
245
+107
+77.5%
Dept. of Commerce
278
240
-38
-13.7%
Applied Research
Development
Facilities and Equipment
Dept. of Energy
Source: CRS analysis of data from Executive Office of the President (EOP), Office of Management and Budget,
Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2019, February 12, 2018, pp. 238-240,
https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Analytical_Perspectives.
Notes: The top three funding agencies in each category, based on the FY2019 request, are listed. Components
may not sum to totals due to rounding. Does not include estimated $12.9 billion in R&D funding included in the
Addendum to the President’s FY2019 Budget to Account for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
Multiagency R&D Initiatives
For many years, presidential budgets have reported on multiagency R&D initiatives and have
often provided details of agency funding for these initiatives. Some of these efforts have a
statutory basis—for example, the Networking and Information Technology Research and
Development (NITRD) program, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), and the U.S.
Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). These programs generally produce annual budget
supplements identifying objectives, activities, funding levels, and other information, usually
published shortly after the presidential budget release. Other multiagency R&D initiatives have
operated at the discretion of the President without such a basis and may be eliminated at the
discretion of the President. President Trump’s FY2019 budget is largely silent on funding levels
for these efforts and whether any or all of the nonstatutory initiatives will continue. Some
activities related to these initiatives are discussed in agency budget justifications and may be
addressed in the agency analyses later in this report. This section provides available multiagency
information on these initiatives and will be updated as additional information becomes available.
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Networking and Information Technology Research and
Development Program (NITRD)10
Established by the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-194), the Networking and
Information Technology Research and Development program is the primary mechanism by which
the federal government coordinates its unclassified networking and information technology R&D
investments in areas such as supercomputing, high-speed networking, cybersecurity, software
engineering, and information management. In FY2018, 21 agencies are NITRD members; nonmember agencies also participate in NITRD activities. NITRD efforts are coordinated by the
National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)11 Subcommittee on Networking and
Information Technology Research and Development.
P.L. 102-194, as reauthorized by the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act of 2017 (P.L.
114-329), requires the director of NITRD to prepare an annual report to be delivered to Congress
along with the President’s budget request. This annual report is to include, among other things,
detailed information on the program’s budget for the current fiscal year, previous fiscal year, and
proposed for the next fiscal year. The latest annual report was published in August 2018.
President Trump is requesting $5,277.6 million for NITRD research in FY2019, $126.1 million
(2.4%) more than the estimated FY2018 level. In FY2017, NNI funding was $5,126.4 million.
Additional NITRD information can be obtained at https://www.nitrd.gov.
Table 4. Networking and Information Technology Research and Development
Program Funding, FY2017-FY2019
(budget authority, in millions of current dollars)
FY2017
(actual)
FY2018
(estimate)
FY2019
(request)
$5,126.4
$5,151.5
$5,277.6
Source: Subcommittee on Networking and Information Technology Research and Development, Committee on
Technology, National Science and Technology Council, The White House, The Networking and Information
Technology Research and Development Program: Supplement to the President’s FY2019 Budget, August 2018.
10 For additional information on the NITRD program, see CRS Report RL33586, The Federal Networking and
Information Technology Research and Development Program: Background, Funding, and Activities, by (name red
acted)
.
11 The NSTC was established by Executive Order 12881 in 1993. According to the White House, “This Cabinet-level
Council is the principal means within the Executive Branch to coordinate science and technology policy across the
diverse entities that make up the Federal research and development enterprise. Chaired by the President, the
membership of the NSTC is made up of the Vice President, Cabinet Secretaries and Agency Heads with significant
science and technology responsibilities, and other White House officials. In practice, the Assistant to the President for
Science and Technology Policy oversees the NSTC’s ongoing activities.” (Source: The White House, Office of Science
and Technology Policy, “NSTC,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/nstc/.) For more information on the NSTC, see
CRS Report R43935, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP): History and Overview, by (name redacted)
and (name redacted)
; and https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/nstc/.
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U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)12
The U.S. Global Change Research Program coordinates and integrates federal research and
applications to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes
of global change. The program seeks to advance global climate change science and to “build a
knowledge base that informs human responses to climate and global change through coordinated
and integrated Federal programs of research, education, communication, and decision support.”13
In FY2018, 13 departments and agencies participated in the USGCRP. USGCRP efforts are
coordinated by the NSTC Subcommittee on Global Change Research.
The Global Change Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-606) requires annual reporting to Congress
on federal budget and spending by agency on global change research.14 In almost each of the past
17 years, language in appropriations laws has required the President to submit a comprehensive
report to the appropriations committees “describing in detail all Federal agency funding, domestic
and international, for climate change programs, projects, and activities … including an
accounting of funding by agency….”15 The most recent report was submitted in December 2016
for FY2017. This section will be updated when the USGCRP updates its budget information.
Additional USGCRP information can be obtained at http://www.globalchange.gov.
Table 5. U.S. Global Change Research Program Funding, FY2017-FY2019
(budget authority, in millions of current dollars)
FY2017
(request)
FY2018
(request)
FY2018
(enacted)
FY2019
(request)
$2.790
n/a
n/a
n/a
Source: U.S. Global Change Research Program, website, https://www.globalchange.gov/about/budget.
Note: n/a = not available.
National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)16
Launched in FY2001, the National Nanotechnology Initiative is a multiagency R&D initiative to
advance understanding and control of matter at the nanoscale, where the physical, chemical, and
biological properties of materials differ in fundamental and useful ways from the properties of
individual atoms or bulk matter.17 In 2003, Congress enacted the 21st Century Nanotechnology
Research and Development Act (P.L. 108-153), providing a legislative foundation for some of the
activities of the NNI. NNI efforts are coordinated by the NSTC Subcommittee on Nanoscale
Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET). In FY2019, the President’s request includes NNI
funding for 16 federal departments and independent agencies and commissions with budgets
dedicated to nanotechnology R&D. The NSET includes other federal departments and
12 For additional information on the USGCRP, see CRS Report R43227, Federal Climate Change Funding from
FY2008 to FY2014, by (name redacted), (name redacted), and (name redacted) .
13 U.S. Global Change Research Program website, http://www.globalchange.gov/about/mission-vision-strategic-plan.
14 Directives to report annually to Congress on budget requests and spending occur in several sections of P.L. 101-606,
including Sections 105(b) and (c) on Budget Coordination, and Section 107, Annual Report.
15 See, most recently, P.L. 115-31, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, Section 416.
16 For additional information on the NNI, see CRS Report RL34401, The National Nanotechnology Initiative:
Overview, Reauthorization, and Appropriations Issues, by (name redacted)
17 In the context of the NNI and nanotechnology, the nanoscale refers to lengths of 1 to 100 nanometers. A nanometer
is one-billionth of a meter, or about the width of 10 hydrogen atoms arranged side by side in a line.
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independent agencies and commissions with responsibilities for health, safety, and environmental
regulation; trade; education; intellectual property; international relations; and other areas that
might affect or be affected by nanotechnology.
The 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (P.L. 108-153) requires the
NSTC to prepare an annual report to be delivered to Congress at the time the President’s budget
request is sent to Congress. This annual report is to include detailed information on the program’s
budget for the current fiscal year and the program’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year, as
well as additional information and data related to the performance of the program. The latest
annual report was published in August 2018. President Trump is requesting $1,395.6 million for
NNI research in FY2019, $81.8 million (5.5%) less than the estimated FY2018 level. In FY2017,
NNI funding was $1,552.3 million.18
Additional NNI information can be obtained at http://www.nano.gov.
Table 6. National Nanotechnology Initiative Funding, FY2017-FY2019
(budget authority, in millions of current dollars)
FY2017
(actual)
FY2018
(estimated)
FY2019
(request)
$1,552.3
$1,477.4
$1,395.6
Source: Subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology, Committee on Technology,
National Science and Technology Council, The White House, The National Nanotechnology Initiative: Supplement to
the President’s 2019 Budget, August 2018.
Other Initiatives
Presidential initiatives without statutory foundations in operation at the end of the Obama
Administration, but not explicitly addressed in President Trump’s FY2018 or FY2019 budgets,
include the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP, including the National Robotics
Initiative [NRI] and the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation [NNMI]),19 the Cancer
Moonshot, the BRAIN Initiative, the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), the Materials Genome
Initiative, and an effort to doubling federal funding for clean energy R&D. Some of the activities
of these initiatives are discussed in agency budget justifications and the agency analyses later in
this report.
18 EOP, National Science and Technology Council, The National Nanotechnology Initiative: Supplement to the
President’s 2019 Budget, August 2018.
19 The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s FY2019 budget justification requests $5 million for the
Manufacturing USA network (also known as the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation). In addition, DOD is
requesting $92.3 million for FY2019 for the DOD-sponsored institutes that are part of the Manufacturing USA network
as part of the request of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (see program element 0603680D8Z).
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FY2019 Appropriations Status
The remainder of this report provides a more in-depth analysis of R&D in 12 federal departments
and agencies that, in aggregate, receive nearly 99% of total federal R&D funding. Agencies are
presented in order of the size of their FY2019 R&D budget requests, with the largest presented
first.
Annual appropriations for these agencies are provided through 9 of the 12 regular appropriations
bills. For each agency covered in this report, Table 7 shows the corresponding regular
appropriations bill that provides primary funding for the agency, including its R&D activities.
Because of the way that agencies report budget data to Congress, it can be difficult to identify the
portion that is R&D. Consequently, R&D data presented in the agency analyses in this report may
differ from R&D data in the president’s budget or otherwise provided by OMB.
Funding for R&D is often included in appropriations line items that also include non-R&D
activities; therefore, in such cases, it may not be possible to identify precisely how much of the
funding provided in appropriations laws is allocated to R&D specifically. In general, R&D
funding levels are known only after departments and agencies allocate their appropriations to
specific activities and report those figures.
As of the date of this report, the House had completed action on six of the 12 regular
appropriations bills; the Senate had completed action on nine of the bills. Five of the 12 had been
enacted as law: the Department of Defense Appropriations Act; Energy and Water Development
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act; Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services,
and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act; Legislative Branch Appropriations Act;
and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
Division C of P.L. 115-245 provides for continuing appropriations for the agencies included in the
remaining seven bills until “the enactment into law of an appropriation for any project or activity
provided for in this Act; (2) the enactment into law of the applicable appropriations Act for fiscal
year 2019 without any provision for such project or activity; or (3) December 7, 2018.”
This report will be updated as Congress takes additional actions to complete the FY2019
appropriations process.
In addition to this report, CRS produces individual reports on each of the appropriations bills.
These reports can be accessed via the CRS website at http://www.crs.gov/iap/appropriations.
Also, the status of each appropriations bill is available on the CRS web page, Status Table of
Appropriations, available at http://www.crs.gov/AppropriationsStatusTable/Index.
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Table 7. Alignment of Agency R&D Funding and Regular Appropriations Bills
Department/Agency
Regular Appropriations Bill
Department of Defense
Department of Defense Appropriations Act
Department of Health and Human Services
(1) Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services,
and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act
(2) Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act
- National Institutes of Health
Department of Energy
Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act
National Science Foundation
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act
Department of Agriculture
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug
Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act
Department of Commerce
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Department of Veterans Affairs
Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act
Department of the Interior
Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act
Department of Transportation
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and
Related Agencies Appropriations Act
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act
Environmental Protection Agency
Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act
Source: CRS Report R40858, Locate an Agency or Program Within Appropriations Bills, by (name redacted)
.
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Department of Defense20
The mission of the Department of Defense is “to provide the military forces needed to deter war
and to protect the security of our country.”21 Congress supports research and development
activities at DOD primarily through the department’s Research, Development, Test, and
Evaluation (RDT&E) funding. These funds support the development of the nation’s future
military hardware and software and the science and technology base upon which those products
rely.
Nearly all of what DOD spends on RDT&E is appropriated in Title IV of the annual defense
appropriations bill. (See Table 8.) However, RDT&E funds are also appropriated in other parts of
the bill. For example, RDT&E funds are appropriated as part of the Defense Health Program, the
Chemical Agents and Munitions Destruction Program, and the National Defense Sealift Fund.
The Defense Health Program (DHP) supports the delivery of health care to DOD personnel and
their families. DHP funds (including the RDT&E funds) are requested through the Defense-wide
Operations and Maintenance appropriations request. The program’s RDT&E funds support
congressionally directed research on breast, prostate, and ovarian cancer; traumatic brain injuries;
orthotics and prosthetics; and other medical conditions. Congress appropriates funds for this
program in Title VI (Other Department of Defense Programs) of the defense appropriations bill.
The Chemical Agents and Munitions Destruction Program supports activities to destroy the U.S.
inventory of lethal chemical agents and munitions to avoid future risks and costs associated with
storage. Funds for this program are requested through the Defense-wide Procurement
appropriations request. Congress appropriates funds for this program also in Title VI. The
National Defense Sealift Fund supports the procurement, operation and maintenance, and
research and development associated with the nation’s naval reserve fleet and supports a U.S.
flagged merchant fleet that can serve in time of need. In some fiscal years, RDT&E funding for
this effort is requested in the Navy’s Procurement request and appropriated in Title V (Revolving
and Management Funds) of the appropriation bill.
RDT&E funds also have been requested and appropriated as part of DOD’s separate funding to
support efforts in what the George W. Bush Administration termed the Global War on Terror
(GWOT), and what the Obama and Trump Administration have referred to as Overseas
Contingency Operations (OCO). In appropriations bills, the term Overseas Contingency
Operations/Global War on Terror (OCO/GWOT) has been used; President Trump’s FY2019
budget uses the term Overseas Contingency Operations. Typically, the RDT&E funds
appropriated for OCO/GWOT activities go to specified Program Elements (PEs) in Title IV.
In addition, OCO/GWOT-related requests/appropriations have included money for a number of
transfer funds. In the past, these have included the Iraqi Freedom Fund (IFF), the Iraqi Security
Forces Fund, the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund, and the Pakistan Counterinsurgency
Capability Fund. Congress typically has made a single appropriation into each such fund and
authorized the Secretary to make transfers to other accounts, including RDT&E, at his discretion.
These transfers are eventually reflected in Title IV prior-year funding figures.
It should be noted that the FY2018 enacted funding levels were not known at the time the
President’s FY2019 budget was prepared, as the budget process had not been completed.
20 This section was written by (name redacted), Specialist in Science and Technology Policy, CRS Resources,
Science, and Industry Division.
21 Department of Defense, https://www.defense.gov/.
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For FY2019, the Trump Administration is requesting $92.365 billion for DOD’s Title IV RDT&E
PEs (base plus OCO/GWOT), $1.783 billion (2.0%) above the enacted FY2018 level. (See Table
8.) In addition, the request includes $710.6 million in RDT&E through the Defense Health
Program (DHP; down $1.329 billion, 65.2% from FY2018), $886.7 million in RDT&E through
the Chemical Agents and Munitions Destruction program (up $47.3 million, 5.6% from FY2018),
and $1.6 million for the Inspector General for RDT&E-related activities (down $1.2 million,
42.9% from FY2018). The FY2019 budget included no RDT&E funding via the National
Defense Sealift Fund, the same as the FY2018 enacted level.
On June 28, 2018, the House passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2019 (H.R.
6157). The bill includes $91.241 billion for Title IV base RDT&E funding and $1.181 billion in
OCO/GWOT base RDT&E funding for a total of $92.422 billion.22 This represents an increase of
$1.840 billion (2.0%) over the FY2018 enacted Title IV RDT&E funding level (base and
OCO/GWOT), and an increase of $57 million (0.1%) above the request level.
The House-passed bill would provide DHP with $1.466 billion in R&D funding for FY2019,
$573 million (28.1%) below the FY2018 enacted level and $756 million (106.3%) above the
FY2019 request; the Chemical Agents and Munitions Destruction program with $887 million for
RDT&E, up $47 million (5.6%) from the FY2018 level and equal to the request; no funding for
National Defense Sealift Fund RDT&E, the same as the FY2018 enacted level and the FY2019
request; and $1.6 million for the Inspector General for RDT&E-related work, $1.2 million
(42.9%) below the FY2018 enacted level and equal to the FY2019 request.
On August 23, 2018, the Senate passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2019
(H.R. 6157, as amended). The bill includes $95.132 billion for Title IV base RDT&E funding and
$1.176 billion in OCO/GWOT base RDT&E funding for a total of $96.308 billion. This
represents an increase of $5.726 billion (6.3%) over the FY2018 enacted Title IV RDT&E
funding level (base and OCO/GWOT), an increase of $3.943 billion (4.3%) above the request,
and an increase of $3.885 billion (4.2%) above the House-passed level.
The Senate-passed bill would provide DHP with $1.674 billion in R&D funding for FY2019,
$365 million (17.9%) below the FY2018 enacted level, $963 million (135.6%) above the request,
and $208 million (14.2%) above the House-passed level; the Chemical Agents and Munitions
Destruction program with $887 million for RDT&E, up $47 million (5.6%) from the FY2018
enacted level, and equal to the request and House-passed levels; the National Defense Sealift
Fund with no funding for RDT&E, the same as the FY2018 enacted level, FY2019 request, and
House-passed level; and the Inspector General with $4.0 million for RDT&E-related work, $1.2
million (42.0%) above the FY2018 enacted level, $2.4 million (148.6%) above the request and
House-passed levels.
For FY2019, Division A of P.L. 115-245, the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act,
2019, provides $94.897 billion for Title IV base RDT&E funding and $1.193 billion in
OCO/GWOT base RDT&E funding for a total of $96.090 billion. This represents an increase of
$5.508 billion (6.1%) over the FY2018 enacted Title IV RDT&E funding level (base and
OCO/GWOT), an increase of $3.725 billion (4.0%) above the request, an increase of $3.668
billion (4.0%) above the House-passed level, and $217 million (0.2%) below the Senate-passed
bill.
For FY2019, Division A of P.L. 115-245 also provides:
22 OCO/GWOT is included in Title IX of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2019, but supports the PEs in
Title IV.
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$2.181 billion for DHP RDT&E, $142 million (6.9%) above the FY2018 enacted level,
$1.470 billion (206.9%) above the request, $715 million (48.7%) above the House-passed
level, and $507 million (30.3%) above the Senate-passed level;
$887 million for Chemical Agents and Munitions Destruction program RDT&E, up $47
million (5.6%) from the FY2018 enacted level, and equal to the request, House-passed,
and Senate-passed levels;
no funding for National Defense Sealift Fund RDT&E, equal to the FY2018 enacted,
FY2019 request, House-passed, and Senate-passed levels; and
$4.0 million for Inspector General RDT&E activities, $1.2 million (42.0%) above the
FY2018 enacted level, $2.4 million (148.6%) above the request and House-passed levels,
and equal to the Senate-passed level.
The military departments each request and receive their own RDT&E funding. So do various
DOD agencies (e.g., the Missile Defense Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency), through the Defense-wide account. The Director, Operational Test and Evaluation
(OTE), receives a separate appropriation. For FY2019, Division A of P.L. 115-245 provides:
the Army with $11.384 billion in RDT&E funding (base plus OCO/GWOT), $481
million (4.4%) above the FY2018 enacted level, $900 million (8.6%) above the request,
$971 million (9.3%) above the House-passed levels, and $247 million (2.2%) above the
Senate-passed level;
the Navy with $18.678 billion in RDT&E funding (base plus OCO/GWOT), $440 million
(2.4%) above the FY2018 enacted level, $29 million (0.2%) above the request, $852
million (4.8%) above the House-passed level, and $482 million (2.5%) below the Senatepassed level;
the Air Force with $41.551 billion in RDT&E funding (base plus OCO/GWOT), $3.738
billion (9.9%) above the FY2018 enacted level, $1.059 billion (2.6%) above the request,
$320 million (0.8%) above the House-passed level, and $367 million (0.9%) above the
Senate-passed level;
the Defense-wide account with $24.095 billion in RDT&E funding (base plus
OCO/GWOT), $679 million (2.9%) above the FY2018 enacted level, $1.578 billion
(7.0%) above the request, $1.365 billion (6.0%) above the House-passed level, and $350
million (1.4%) below the Senate-passed level; and
OTE with $381 million in RDT&E funding (base plus OCO/GWOT), $170 million
(80.7%) above the FY2018 enacted level, $160 million (72.4%) above the request and the
House-passed level, and equal to the Senate-passed level.
RDT&E funding can also be characterized by budget activity (i.e., the type of RDT&E
supported). Those budget activities designated as 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 (basic research, applied
research, and advanced technology development) constitute what is called DOD’s Science and
Technology (S&T) program. Budget activities 6.4 and 6.5 focus on the development of specific
weapon systems or components for which an operational need has been determined and an
acquisition program established. Budget activity 6.6 provides management support, including
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support for test and evaluation facilities. Budget activity 6.7 supports the development of system
improvements in existing operational systems.23
Many congressional policymakers are particularly interested in DOD S&T program funding since
these funds support the development of new technologies and the underlying science. Some in the
defense community see ensuring adequate support for S&T activities as imperative to maintaining
U.S. military superiority into the future. The knowledge generated at this stage of development
may also contribute to advances in commercial technologies. The FY2019 request for Title IV
S&T funding (base plus OCO/GWOT) is $13.700 billion, $1.194 billion (8.0%) below the
FY2018 enacted level. The House-passed bill would provide $14.648 billion in FY2019 level for
Title IV S&T funding, $426 million (2.9%) below the FY2018 level and $768 million (5.6%)
above the FY2019 request. The Senate-passed bill would provide $15.441 billion for Title IV
S&T funding, $547 million (3.7%) above the FY2018 level, $1.740 billion (12.7%) above the
request, and $972 million (6.7%) above the House-passed level. Division A of P.L. 115-245
provides $15.973 billion for Title IV S&T funding in FY2019 (base plus OCO/GWOT), $1.079
billion (7.2%) above the FY2018 enacted level, $2.273 billion (16.6%) above the request, $1.505
billion (10.4%) above the House-passed levels, and $533 million (3.5%) above the Senate-passed
level.
Within the S&T program, basic research (6.1) receives special attention, particularly by the
nation’s universities. DOD is not a large supporter of basic research when compared to NIH or
NSF. However, over half of DOD’s basic research budget is spent at universities, and it is among
the largest sources of federal funds for university research in some areas of science and
technology, such as electrical engineering and materials science.24 The Trump Administration is
requesting $2.269 billion for DOD basic research for FY2019, $74.0 million (3.2%) below the
FY2018 enacted level. The House-passed bill would provide $2.298 billion in FY2019 for DOD
basic research, $45 million (1.9%) below the FY2018 level and $29 million (1.3%) above the
FY2019 request. The Senate-passed bill would provide $2.798 billion in FY2019 for DOD basic
research, $455 million (19.4%) above the request, $529 million (23.3%) above the request, and
$500 million (21.8%) above the House-passed level. Division A of P.L. 115-245 provides $2.530
billion in Title IV (base plus OCO/GWOT) FY2019 for DOD basic research, $186 million (8.0%)
above the FY2018 enacted level, $260 million (11.5%) above the request, $231 million (10.1%)
above the House-passed levels, and $269 million (9.6%) below the Senate-passed level.
23 For additional information on the structure of Defense RDT&E, see CRS Report R44711, Department of Defense
Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E): Appropriations Structure, by (name redacted)
24 CRS analysis of data from NSF, Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development, Fiscal Years 2015–17,
April 5, 2017, https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/fedfunds/2015/.
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Table 8. Department of Defense RDT&E
(obligational authority, in millions of dollars)
FY2018
Enacted
Base +
OCO +
Emergency
Enactedd
Budget Account
FY2019
House
FY2019
Request
FY2019
Senate
FY2019
Enacted
Base
OCO
Total
Base
OCO
Total
Base
OCO
Total
Base
OCO
Total
Army
$10,903.5
$10,159.4
$325.1
$10,484.5
$10,113.1
$300.6
$10,413.7
$10,812.5
$325.1
$11,137.6
$11,083.8
$300.6
$11,384.4
Navy
18,238.3
18,451.1
198.4
18,649.5
17,658.2
167.8
17,826.1
18,992.1
167.8
19,159.9
18,510.6
167.8
18,678.4
Air Force
37,813.4
39,892.1
600.5
40,492.6
40,929.5
301.9
41,231.4
40,896.7
288.0
41,184.6
41,229.5
321.9
41,551.4
Defense-wide
23,415.6
21,892.5
624.6
22,517.1
22,319.4
410.5
22,730.0
24,049.6
394.9
24,444.5
23,691.8
403.0
24,094.9
210.9
221.0
0.0
221.0
221.0
0.0
221.0
381.0
0.0
381.0
381.0
0.0
381.0
$90,581.7
$90,616.1
$1,748.6
$92,364.7
$91,241.3
$1,180.8
$92,422.1
$95,131.8
$1,175.8
$96,307.6
$94,896.7
$1,193.4
$96,090.1
6.1 Basic Research
2,343.2
2,269.2
0.0
2,269.2
2,298.1
0.0
2,298.1
2,798.5
0.0
2,798.5
2,530
0.0
2,530
6.2 Applied Research
5,681.8
5,100.4
0.0
5,100.4
5,571.2
0.0
5,571.2
5,577.3
0.0
5,577.3
6,068.2
0.0
6,068.2
6.3 Advanced Technology
Development
6,869.1
6,292.1
38.6
6,330.8
6,559.4
39.7
6,599.1
7,051.2
13.6
7,064.8
7,362.0
13.6
7,375.6
6.4 Advanced Component
Development and
Prototypes
19,051.5
20,862.8
318.0
21,180.7
20,263.7
190.0
20,453.7
22,024.4
237.3
22,261.7
21,573.5
221.0
21,794.5
6.5 Systems Dev. and
Demonstration
14,689.3
15,338.5
238.0
15,576.5
15,316.6
238.0
15,554.6
15,734.6
238.0
15,972.6
15,399.4
238.0
15,637.3
Director, Operational Test
& Evaluation
Total Title IV—By
Account
Budget Activity
6.6 Management Support
a
6,648.9
6,520.6
0.0
6,520.6
6,649.9
0.0
6,649.9
7,688.6
0.0
7,688.6
6,774.8
0.0
6,774.8
6.7 Operational Systems
Developmentb
33,947.0
34,232.5
1,154.0
35,386.5
34,609.4
713.2
35,322.6
34,257.2
686.9
34,944.1
35,229.3
720.8
35,950.1
Undistributed Additions*
1,346.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
65.4
n/a
65.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
CRS-18
-
FY2018
Enacted
Budget Account
Base +
OCO +
Emergency
Enactedd
FY2019
House
FY2019
Request
Base
OCO
Total
Base
OCO
FY2019
Senate
Total
Base
OCO
FY2019
Enacted
Total
Base
OCO
Total
Undistributed Reductions
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
(42.4)
0.0
(42.2)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Undistributed Reduction
(DARPA)
(50.0)
0.0
0.0
0.0
(50.0)
0.0
(50.0)
0.0
0.0
0.0
(40.0)
0.0
(40.0)
Undistributed Reduction
(MDA)
(31.0)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0.
0.0
Undistributed Transfer
(Air Force)
(83.0)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Undistributed Transfer
from JITDF
168.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
$90,581.7
$90,616.1
$1,748.6
$92,364.7
$91,241.3
$1,180.8
$92,422.1
$95,131.8
$1,175.8
$96,307.6
$94,896.7
$1,193.4
$96,090.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Defense Health Program
2,039.3
710.6
0.0
710.6
1,466.2
0.0
1,466.2
1673.8
0.0
1673.8
2180.9
0.0
2,180.9
Chemical Agents and
Munitions Destruction
839.4
886.7
0.0
886.7
886.7
0.0
886.7
886.7
0.0
886.7
886.7
0.0
886.7
2.8
1.6
0.0
1.6
1.6
0.0
1.6
4.0
0.0
4.0
4.0
0.0
4.0
$93,463.3
$92,215.1
$1,748.6
$93,963.6
$93,595.9
$1,180.8
$94,776.7
$97,696.4
$1,175.8
$98,872.1
97,968.4
1,193.4
99,121.7
Total Title IV—by
Budget Activity
Title V—Revolving and
Management Funds
National Defense Sealift
Fund
Title VI—Other
Defense Programs
Inspector General
Grand Total
Source: The FY2018 enacted amounts were taken from the joint explanatory statement to accompany H.R. 1625, printed in the March 22, 2018, Congressional Record
(pp. H2084-H2115), P.L. 115-141, and P.L. 115-96. FY2019 request amounts are based on CRS analysis of Department of Defense Budget, Fiscal Year 2019, RDT&E Programs
(R‑1), February 2018.
Notes: Figures for the columns headed “FY2019 Senate” and “FY2019 Enacted” will be added, if available, as each action is completed. Totals may differ from the sum of
the components due to rounding. “Undistributed” means undistributed among budget activity levels 6.1-6.7.
CRS-19
a.
b.
c.
d.
CRS-20
Includes funding for Director of Test and Evaluation.
Includes funding for Classified Programs.
According to DOD, “Total Obligation Authority (TOA) is the sum of: 1) all budget authority (BA) granted (or requested) from the Congress in a given year, 2)
amounts authorized to be credited to a specific fund, 3) BA transferred from another appropriation, and 4) Unobligated balances of BA from previous years which
remain available for obligation. In practice, this term is used primarily in discussing the DoD budget, and most often refers to TOA as the ‘direct program,’ which
equates to only (1) and (2) above.” DOD defines “budget authority” as “the authority becoming available during the year to enter into obligations that result in
immediate or future outlays of Government funds.” See DoD 7000.14-R, “Department of Defense Financial Management Regulation,”
http://comptroller.defense.gov/fmr.aspx.
Includes supplemental emergency funding requested by President Trump in November 2017 and provided by the Department of Defense Missile Defeat and
Defense Enhancements Appropriations Act, 2018 (included as Division B of P.L. 115-96).
Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
Department of Health and Human Services
The mission of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is “to enhance and protect
the health and well-being of all Americans ... by providing for effective health and human
services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services.”25 This section
focuses on HHS research and development funded through the National Institutes of Health, an
HHS agency that accounts for more than 95% of total HHS R&D funding.26 Other HHS agencies
that provide funding for R&D include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA), and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF).27
National Institutes of Health28
NIH is the primary agency of the federal government charged with performing and supporting
biomedical and behavioral research. It also has major roles in training biomedical researchers and
disseminating health information. The NIH mission is “to seek fundamental knowledge about the
nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health,
lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.”29 The agency’s organization consists of the NIH
Office of the Director (OD) and 27 institutes and centers (ICs).
The OD sets overall policy for NIH and coordinates the programs and activities of all NIH
components, particularly in areas of research that involve multiple institutes. The ICs focus on
particular diseases, areas of human health and development, or aspects of research support. Each
IC plans and manages its own research programs in coordination with OD. As shown in Table 9,
separate appropriations are provided to 24 of the 27 ICs, to OD, and to an intramural Buildings
and Facilities account. The other three centers, which perform centralized support services, are
funded through assessments on the IC appropriations.
NIH supports and conducts a wide range of basic and clinical research, research training, and
health information dissemination across all fields of biomedical and behavioral sciences. About
10% of the NIH budget supports intramural research projects conducted by the nearly 6,000 NIH
scientists, most of whom are located on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. More than 80% of
NIH’s budget goes out to the extramural research community in the form of grants, contracts, and
other awards. This funding supports research performed by more than 300,000 nonfederal
scientists and technical personnel who work at more than 2,500 universities, hospitals, medical
schools, and other research institutions.30
25 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “About,” http://www.hhs.gov/about.
26 CRS analysis of data from OMB, Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year
2019, February 2018, pp. 233-235, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/spec-fy2019.pdf
27 Ibid.
28 This section was written by (name redacted), Analyst in Health Policy, CRS
Domestic Social Policy Division. A
previous version was prepared by (name redacted) , Specialist in Biomedical Policy, CRS Domestic Social Policy
Division. For background information on NIH, see CRS Report R41705, The National Institutes of Health (NIH):
Background and Congressional Issues, by (name reda
cted) .
29 HHS, National Institutes of Health, “About NIH, What We Do, Mission and Goals,” http://www.nih.gov/about-nih/
what-we-do/mission-goals.
30 HHS, Fiscal Year 2018 Budget in Brief, Washington, DC, May 2017, p. 38, https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/
Consolidated%20BIB_ONLINE_remediated.pdf. Updated numbers were not available in the FY2019 HHS Budget in
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
Funding for NIH comes primarily from the annual Labor, HHS, and Education (LHHS)
appropriations act, with an additional amount for Superfund-related activities from the
Interior/Environment appropriations act. Those two appropriations acts provide NIH’s
discretionary budget authority. In addition, NIH has received mandatory funding of $150 million
annually that is provided in the Public Health Service (PHS) Act for a special program on type 1
diabetes research and funding from a PHS Act transfer. The total funding available for NIH
activities, taking account of add-ons and transfers, is known as the NIH program level.
President Trump’s FY2019 budget requested an NIH program level total of $34.792 billion, a
decrease of $2.519 billion (6.8%) from the FY2018 program level of $37.311 billion (see Table
9).31 The FY2019 program level request included $33.847 in discretionary budget authority, $741
million in PHS Act transfers, $150 million in mandatory type 1 diabetes research, and $54 million
for Superfund-related research. Under the request, Buildings and Facilities would have received a
55% increase in funding for FY2019 compared to FY2018, and all other ICs would have received
a decrease compared to FY2018. (Readers should be aware that final FY2018 appropriations had
not been enacted during the period in which the FY2019 President’s request was being
formulated. While the total request for NIH represented a decrease from FY2018 enacted levels,
it represented an increase from FY2017 enacted levels and the FY2018 continuing resolution
levels that were in place at the time FY2019 request levels were being determined).
The FY2019 NIH budget request proposed the consolidation of other existing HHS research
programs to establish three new NIH Institutes: the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH), the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation
Research (NIDILRR), and the National Institute for Research on Safety and Quality (NIRSQ)
(formerly the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)).32 The creation of three new
NIH Institutes would require an amendment to the Public Health Service Act, considering that a
provision in the NIH Reform Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-482; PHS Act §401[d]) states that the number
of NIH ICs “may not exceed a total of 27.” The budget request would have provided
discretionary budget authority for these three new institutes at the levels proposed in Table 9,
with an additional $55 million in mandatory funding also provided for the Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act for NIOSH.
The main funding mechanism NIH uses to support extramural research is research project grants
(RPGs), which are competitive, peer-reviewed, and largely investigator-initiated. Historically,
over 50% of the NIH budget is used to support RPGs, which include salaries for investigators and
research staff. The President’s FY2019 budget proposal included two initiatives designed to
“stretch available grant dollars” by placing limits on salaries for investigators. The FY2019
budget proposed to cap the percentage of an investigator’s salary that can be paid with grant
funds to 90%. It also proposed to cap investigator salaries at $152,000, a 19% reduction from the
current $187,000 limit. 33
Brief.
31 The request level does not include the NIH’s proposed share ($750 million) of an additional $10 billion in HHS-wide
opioid-related funding requested in the FY2019 President’s budget. See Department of Health and Human Services.
Fiscal Year 2019 Budget in Brief, Washington, DC, February 2018, p. 40, https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/fy2019-budget-in-brief.pdf.
32 Department of Health and Human Services. Fiscal Year 2019 Budget in Brief, Washington, DC, February 2018, p.
45, https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/fy-2019-budget-in-brief.pdf.
33 Ibid, pp. 44-45.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
The FY2019 Trump budget proposed shifting the $150 million in mandatory funding for research
on type 1 diabetes authorized under the PHS Act §330B to discretionary funding within the
budget of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).34
Additionally, the FY2019 program level request proposed $741 million in funding transferred to
NIH by the PHS Program Evaluation Set-Aside, also called the evaluation tap. Discretionary
funding for certain programs at NIH and other HHS agencies that are authorized under the PHS
Act can be subject to an assessment under Section 241 of the PHS Act (42 U.S.C. §238j). This
provision authorizes the Secretary to use a portion of eligible appropriations to study the
effectiveness of federal health programs and to identify improvements. Although the PHS Act
limits the tap to no more than 1% of eligible appropriations, in recent years, annual LHHS
appropriations acts have specified a higher amount (2.5% in FY2018) and have also typically
directed specific amounts of funding from the tap for transfer to a number of HHS programs. The
assessment has the effect of redistributing appropriated funds for specific purposes among PHS
and other HHS agencies. NIH, with the largest budget among the PHS agencies, has historically
been the largest “donor” of program evaluation funds; until recently, it had been a relatively
minor recipient.35 Provisions in recent LHHS appropriations acts have directed specific tap
transfers to NIH, making NIH a net recipient of tap funds.
The FY2019 total NIH budget request also included $711 million in resources made available
through the 21st Century Cures Act (see text box below). Per the authorization, $400 million
would be transferred to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the Cancer Moonshot initiative;
$57 million to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and $57
million to the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) for the Brain Research through
Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative; and the remaining $196 million in
the Innovation Account for the Precision Medicine Initiative and regenerative medicine
research.36
34 Mandatory funds of $150 million per fiscal year for type 1 diabetes research (under PHS Act §330B) provided by
§50902 of P.L. 115-123 for FY2018 and FY2019. The President’s FY2019 budget proposes to shift this from
mandatory funding to discretionary funding. More information can be found in the addendum to the FY2019
President’s Budget, Letter from Mick Mulvaney, Director, Office of Management and Budget, to Paul D. Ryan,
Speaker of the House of Representatives, February 12, 2018, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/
02/Addendum-to-the-FY-2019-Budget.pdf.
35 For more information, see the “PHS Evaluation Set-Aside” section of CRS Report R44916, Public Health Service
Agencies: Overview and Funding (FY2016-FY2018), coordinated by (name redacted) and (name redacted)
. By
convention, budget tables such as Table 9 do not subtract the amount of the evaluation tap from the donor agencies’
appropriations.
36 National Institutes of Health, FY2019 Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees, Vol 1. Overview,
pp. 3-4, https://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY19/br/Overview.pdf.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
The 21st Century Cures Act and the NIH Innovation Account
The 21st Century Cures Act (P.L. 114-255) created the NIH Innovation account and specified that funds in the
account must be appropriated in order to be available for expenditure. The Cures Act specified that the following
amounts shall be transferred to the NIH Innovation account: $352 million for FY2017; $496 million for FY2018;
$711 million for FY2019; $492 million for FY2020; $404 million for FY2021; $496 million for FY2022; $1,085
million for FY2023; $407 million for FY2024; $127 million for FY2025; and, $226 million for FY2026. 37
The Cures Act authorizes four projects in the following amounts: Precision Medicine Initiative (FY2017, $40
million; FY2018, $100 million; FY2019, $186 million), the BRAIN Initiative (FY2017, $10 million; FY2018, $86
million; FY2019, $115 million), cancer research (FY2017, $300 million; FY2018, $300 million; FY2019 $400
million), and regenerative medicine using adult stem cells (FY2017, $2 million; FY2018, $10 million; FY2019, $10
million). Amounts, once appropriated, are to be available until expended. The NIH Director may transfer these
amounts from the NIH Innovation account to other NIH accounts but only for the purposes specified in the
Cures Act. If the NIH Director determines that the funds for any of the four Innovation Projects are not
necessary, the amounts may be transferred back to the NIH Innovation account. This transfer authority is in
addition to other transfer authorities provided by law.
For further information, see CRS Report R44720, The 21st Century Cures Act (Division A of P.L. 114-255), and CRS
Report R44723, Overview of Further Continuing Appropriations for FY2017 (H.R. 2028), Overview of Further Continuing
Appropriations for FY2017 (H.R. 2028)
The House Appropriations Committee-reported version of the FY2019 LHHS appropriations bill
(H.R. 6470) would have provided the NIH with a total of $37.411 billion in discretionary budget
authority. Adding to this total the amounts for the evaluation tap ($923 million), Superfundrelated activities ($80 million), and the mandatory type 1 diabetes program ($150 million), would
have brought the program-level total to $38.564 billion (see Table 9). The Senate Appropriations
Committee-reported version of the FY2019 LHHS appropriations bill (S. 3158) recommended a
total of $38.066 billion for NIH in discretionary budget authority. Adding to this total the amounts
provided by the evaluation tap ($1.018 billion), Superfund related activities ($78 million), and the
mandatory type 1 diabetes program ($150 million) would have brought the NIH program level
total to $39.312 billion (see Table 9).
S. 3158 did not receive floor consideration in the Senate, but the text of this bill was substantially
similar to the LHHS division that was incorporated into H.R. 6157 for the purposes of initial
Senate floor consideration. The Senate passed an amended version of this bill on August 23. None
of the amendments adopted at that time affected the amounts to be appropriated to NIH. The bill
included a provision indicating that the report accompanying the earlier committee-passed bill (S.
3158; S.Rept 115-289) should be used to guide, where possible, the allocation of funds and the
implementation of the bill.
Ultimately, the House and the Senate agreed to resolve differences with regard to H.R. 6157 via a
conference committee and both chambers adopted the conference report (H.R. 115-952) that was
filed on the bill. The bill was signed into law by President Trump on September 28, 2018 (P.L.
115-245).38 P.L. 115-245 provides the NIH with $37.937 billion in discretionary LHHS budget
37 The first round of funding was provided by Section 194 of the Further Continuing and Security Assistance
Appropriations Act, 2017 (CR, P.L. 114-254). The CR appropriated $352 million in the NIH Innovation account for
necessary expenses to carry out the four NIH Innovation Projects as described in Section 1001(b)(4) of the Cures Act.
The second round of funding was provided by the FY2018 omnibus (P.L. 115-141).
38 H.R. 6157 (H.Rept. 115-952 ) contains a full-year appropriations act for LHHS (Division B) and the Department of
Defense (Division A), as well as a continuing resolution (through December 7) for the remaining annual appropriations
act. See CRS Insight IN10944, Status of FY2019 LHHS Appropriations, by (name redacted) and (name redacted) , for
more information.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
authority. Adding to this total, the amounts for the evaluation tap ($1.147 billion), the mandatory
type 1 diabetes program ($150 million) and assuming a conservative estimate for Superfund
related activities ($78 million)39 brings the program-level total to an estimated $39.312 billion
(Table 9). This program level provides the NIH with $2 billion (5.4%) more than the FY2018
program level and $4.52 billion (13.0%) more than President Trump’s budget request for the
NIH. This program level is $748 million (1.9%) more than the House committee
recommendation, but the same as the earlier Senate-passed program level recommendation.
According to the conference report accompanying P.L. 115-245 (H.Rept. 115-952, p. 529), each
of the ICs at the NIH would receive a funding increase. For specific research areas and programs,
the conference report recommends a $425 million increase (+22%) of funding on Alzheimer’s
research, a $37 million increase (+7%) for antibiotic resistant bacteria research, a $40 million
increase (+40%) to develop a universal flu vaccine, and an $11 million increase (+3%) for the
Institutional Development Awards (IDeA) program.40 Established based on a provision of the
National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act in 1993 (P.L. 103-43), the IDeA program supports
faculty development and institutional research infrastructure in states that have historically
received lower levels of NIH funding. The program includes 23 eligible states along with Puerto
Rico.41 The funding increases for Alzheimer’s research, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and for the
IDeA program match the funding recommendations from the earlier Senate committee report.42
The funding increase for the universal flu vaccines exceeds the recommendations from both the
House committee report ($30 million)43 and the Senate committee report ($20 million).44
Until recently, Congress has not usually specified amounts for particular diseases. Generally,
specific amounts are appropriated to each IC; NIH and its scientific advisory panels allocate the
funding to various research areas. This allows maximum flexibility for NIH to pursue scientific
opportunities that are important to public health.45 Some bills may propose authorizations for
designated research purposes, but previously funding generally remained subject to the NIH peer
review process as well as the overall discretionary appropriation to the agency. This pattern has
changed in recent years, most notably starting in FY2016 with Alzheimer’s disease research,46
39 At the time of writing, full-year FY2019 appropriations have not been enacted for the Interior-Environment bill,
which provides Superfund appropriations. Temporary appropriations for the bill have been provided through December
7 by a continuing resolution contained in Division C of P.L. 115-245. In the absence of final FY2019 Superfund
appropriations, the lower Senate-recommended appropriations level of $78 million was used to estimate the NIH
program level.
40 U.S. Congress, Committee of Conference, Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 6157, 115th Cong., 2nd sess.,
September 13, 2018, H.Rept. 115-952 (Washington: GPO, 2018), pp. 529-530.
41 National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Introducing the National Institutional Development Award (IDeA)
Program, May 10, 2012, https://loop.nigms.nih.gov/2012/05/introducing-the-institutional-development-award-ideaprogram-2/.
42 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, 2019, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., June 28, 2018, S.Rept. 115-289
(Washington: GPO, 2018), p.85, p.101
43 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2019, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., July 23, 2018, H.Rept. 115-862
(Washington: GPO, 2018), p. 3.
44 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, 2019, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., June 28, 2018, S.Rept. 115-289
(Washington: GPO, 2018), p. 85.
45 See NIH website, “Estimates of Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories (RCDC),”
http://report.nih.gov/categorical_spending.aspx.
46 For example, in the year before this new pattern developed, the explanatory statement accompanying the FY2015
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and in FY2017 with the NIH Innovation account established by the 21st Century Cures Act (P.L.
114-255, see text box above).
The report accompanying H.R. 6470 stated that the committee did not include the general
provision in the budget request to limit the percentage of a researcher’s salary that may be paid
for using NIH grant funds, as the impact of such a change is unclear. The report stated, “The
Committee requests an analysis of the projected impact of such a policy change on the number
and average cost of NIH grants, as well as on academic institutions, in the fiscal year 2020
Congressional Justification.”47 The Senate committee report48 and the conference report49 did not
comment on this proposal from the president’s budget request.
The report accompanying S. 3158, stated that “The Committee rejects the budget’s request to
create 3 new Institutes at the NIH: (1) the National Institute for Research on Safety and Quality;
(2) the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; and (3) the National Institute on
Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. The Committee also does not move
the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program from CDC to NIH.”50 The
House report also rejected the creation of the three new institutes. With regard to NIOSH, it stated
“The Committee does not move NIOSH into NIH, as proposed in the budget request. The
Committee believes NIOSH’s mission does not align with NIH’s focus on biomedical research
and is better achieved within CDC.”51 The House committee report made a similar statement
about NIDILRR, but did not address AHRQ/NIRSQ.52 The conference report did not address any
of the recommendations from the president’s budget request to create three new institutes.53
omnibus stated the following:
In keeping with longstanding practice, the agreement does not recommend a specific amount of
NIH funding for this purpose or for any other individual disease. Doing so would establish a
dangerous precedent that could politicize the NIH peer review system. Nevertheless, in recognition
that Alzheimer’s disease poses a serious threat to the Nation’s long-term health and economic
stability, the agreement expects that a significant portion of the recommended increase for NIA
[National Institute on Aging] should be directed to research on Alzheimer's. The exact amount
should be determined by scientific opportunity of additional research on this disease and the quality
of grant applications that are submitted for Alzheimer’s relative to those submitted for other
diseases.
See Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 160, no. 151, Book II (December 11, 2014), p. H9832,
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2014-12-11/pdf/CREC-2014-12-11-pt2-PgH9307-2.pdf.
47 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2019, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., July 23, 2018, H.Rept. 115-862
(Washington: GPO, 2018), p. 53.
48 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, 2019, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., June 28, 2018, S.Rept. 115-289
(Washington: GPO, 2018).
49 U.S. Congress, Committee of Conference, Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 6157, 115th Cong., 2nd sess.,
September 13, 2018, H.Rept. 115-952 (Washington: GPO, 2018).
50 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, 2019, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., June 28, 2018, S.Rept. 115-289
(Washington: GPO, 2018), p. 86.
51 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2019, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., July 23, 2018, H.Rept. 115-862
(Washington: GPO, 2018), p. 49.
52 Ibid, p. 115.
53 U.S. Congress, Committee of Conference, Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 6157, 115th Cong., 2nd sess.,
September 13, 2018, H.Rept. 115-952 (Washington: GPO, 2018).
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The enacted law did not include the proposal in President Trump’s budget request to shift the
$150 million in type 1 diabetes authorized under the PHS Act §330B to discretionary funding
within the budget of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
(NIDDK).54 Therefore Table 9 includes the type 1 diabetes research mandatory funding for all
FY2019 budget columns including the budget request, as displayed in the conference reported
NIH budget table.55
The President’s FY2019 budget identified several research priorities for NIH in the coming year.
The overview below outlines these priority themes in the budget request. Selected responses from
congressional report language are also provided.
1. Tackling Complex Challenges by Leveraging Partnerships. NIH partners with other
government agencies and private entities to collaborate on research. The President’s budget
proposal stated that “public-private partnerships can create efficiencies of scale and facilitate
development of innovative technologies or treatments, thereby increasing the pace of biomedical
research.”56 For example, the Accelerating Medicines Partnership is a public-private partnership
between NIH, FDA, and several biopharmaceutical companies and nonprofit organizations. With
the goal of increasing the number of new diagnostics and therapies for patients, the Partnership
aims to jointly identify promising biological targets for therapeutics.
Since 2014, the Partnership has been addressing Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, and two
autoimmune disorders (rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus); a new
Parkinson’s disease initiative was also recently inaugurated. NIH will also enhance existing
research efforts using a public-private partnership model to address the opioid crisis. The goal of
this endeavor is to develop new formulations of medications to treat opioid misuse and accelerate
the development of non-addictive pain therapies The FY2019 budget proposal also called for
further dedicated investments in NIH research on opioids, serious mental illness, and pain.57 The
FY2019 conference report (H.Rept. 115-952, p. 530) notes that the agreement includes $500
million for NIH research on opioid addiction, development of opioid alternatives, pain
management, and addiction treatment. The conference report also notes that this $500 million is
in addition to $774 million that NIH is expected to spend in base funding for research on opioid
misuse, addiction treatment, and pain research.
2. Supporting Basic Research to Drive New Understanding of Health and Disease in Living
Systems. NIH is the largest funder of basic biomedical research in the United States. As
mentioned previously, each year more than half of the NIH budget goes toward basic research,
which provides “a critical research foundation for both the public and private sectors to build
upon.”58 NIH funds a broad spectrum of basic science research. For example, addressing the
opioid crisis requires understanding how pain is sensed and perceived, and how changes in neural
circuits create a state of dependency. Basic research on neural pathways in the brain related to
54 Mandatory funds of $150 million per fiscal year for type 1 diabetes research (under PHS Act §330B) provided by
§50902 of P.L. 115-123 for FY2018 and FY2019. The President’s FY2019 budget proposes to shift this from
mandatory funding to discretionary funding. More information can be found in the addendum to the FY2019
President’s Budget, Letter from Mick Mulvaney, Director, Office of Management and Budget, to Paul D. Ryan,
Speaker of the House of Representatives, February 12, 2018, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/
02/Addendum-to-the-FY-2019-Budget.pdf.
55 U.S. Congress, Committee of Conference, Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 6157, 115th Cong., 2nd sess.,
September 13, 2018, H.Rept. 115-952 (Washington: GPO, 2018), pp. 573-575.
56 HHS, Fiscal Year 2019 Budget in Brief, February 2018, p. 42.
57 Ibid, p. 43.
58 Ibid, p. 43.
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pain and substance use may provide an avenue for better treatments for pain, without the potential
for addiction. The Senate committee report stated, “The Committee recognizes that many
revolutionary discoveries often come from unexpected, untargeted research. The Committee
continues to support these basic advances through the general increase to all Institutes and
Centers.”59
3. Investing in Translational and Clinical Research to Improve Health. NIH builds on the
foundation of basic research by supporting translational and clinical research that seeks to convert
this basic science knowledge into interventions. Translational research aims to “translate”
findings from basic science into medical practice to produce meaningful health outcomes.60 The
Senate committee report noted that it “targets investment towards clinical and translational
research that moves basic discoveries from ‘bench-to-bedside.’”61 Clinical research, which uses
human subjects, helps professionals find new and better ways to understand, detect, control, and
treat illness. NIH is investing in large population studies to learn more about the similarities and
differences among individuals and facilitate integrated understanding of health and disease at all
levels, from the molecular to the social. For example, as previously mentioned, NIH would
continue to establish a group of 1 million or more volunteers through the Precision Medicine
Initiative’s All of Us Research Program. This research project involves the collection of health,
genetic, environmental, and other data from participants for use in research studies designed to
identify novel therapeutics and prevention strategies. Additionally, the conference report directs
the National Cancer Institute to design a study on providing navigation and patient expense
reimbursement to improve participation of underrepresented and minority communities in clinical
research for cancer, and to report its plans to Congress within 90 days of enactment.62
In addition to the above three priorities, the President’s budget also identified the following as
goals for FY2019:
Updating the infrastructure of NIH facilities. An independent review is currently
being conducted of the capital needs of the 281 facilities located on NIH’s main
campus, including its research hospital, laboratories, and offices.63
Fostering a diverse and talented research workforce. The FY2019 budget
proposal includes $100 million in dedicated funding to the OD for the Next
Generation Research Initiative to “address longstanding challenges faced by
researchers trying to embark upon and sustain independent research careers.”64
The House committee report recommended the NIH use increases in available
59 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, 2019, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., June 28, 2018, S.Rept. 115-289
(Washington: GPO, 2018), p. 86.
60 Griffin M. Weber, “Identifying Translational Science Within the Triangle of Biomedicine,” Journal of Translational
Medicine, vol. 11, no. 126 (2013), https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5876-11126.
61 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, 2019, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., June 28, 2018, S.Rept. 115-289
(Washington: GPO, 2018), pp. 85-86.
62 U.S. Congress, Committee of Conference, Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 6157, 115th Cong., 2nd sess.,
September 13, 2018, H.Rept. 115-952 (Washington: GPO, 2018), p. 530.
63 HHS, Fiscal Year 2019 Budget in Brief, February 2018, p. 44.
64 Ibid, p. 44.
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grants to target early-stage investigators and investigators seeking first time
renewals.65
Advancing data science. The FY2019 budget would have continued to support
the Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) initiative established in 2012. The FY2019
budget included $30 million for NIH to build on the progress of the BD2K as this
initiative enters its final stages.66
Encouraging innovation through prize competitions. The FY2019 budget
proposal would have allocated $50 million for prize competitions to improve
health outcomes, particularly for research for which there is potential for
significant return on investment.67
Table 9. National Institutes of Health Funding
(budget authority, in millions of dollars)
Institutes/Centers
FY2018
Enacted
FY2019
Request
FY2019
House
Cmte.
FY2019
Senate
FY2019
Enacted
Cancer Institute (NCI)
5,665
5,626
6,136
6,147
6,144
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
3,383
3,112
3,424
3,490
3,488
Dental/Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
448
413
453
462
462
Diabetes/Digestive/Kidney (NIDDK)a
1,971
1,965
1,994
2,031
2,030
Neurological Disorders/Stroke (NINDS)
2,145
1,839
2,229
2,276
2,274
Allergy/Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
5,260
4,762
5,368
5,506
5,523
General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)b
1,863
1,832
1,896
1,856
1,726
Child Health/Human Development (NICHD)
1,452
1,340
1,469
1,507
1,506
National Eye Institute (NEI)
772
711
782
797
797
Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)c
751
693
760
775
775
2,574
1,988
3,006
3,085
3,083
Arthritis/Musculoskeletal/Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
587
545
594
605
605
Deafness/Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
460
424
465
475
474
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
1,712
1,612
1,790
1,871
1,870
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
1,384
1,137
1,400
1,421
1,420
Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism (NIAAA)
510
469
516
526
526
Nursing Research (NINR)
158
146
160
163
163
Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
557
513
564
576
576
Biomedical Imaging/Bioengineering (NIBIB)
378
347
382
390
389
Minority Health/Health Disparities (NIMHD)
303
281
307
315
315
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
65 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2019, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., July 23, 2018, H.Rept. 115-862
(Washington: GPO, 2018), p. 53.
66 HHS, Fiscal Year 2019 Budget in Brief, February 2018, p. 44.
67 Ibid, p. 44.
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FY2018
Enacted
FY2019
Request
FY2019
House
Cmte.
FY2019
Senate
FY2019
Enacted
Complementary/Integrative Health (NCCIH)
142
131
144
147
146
Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
742
685
751
807
806
Fogarty International Center (FIC)
76
70
77
78
78
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
429
395
434
442
442
1,816
1,808
1,915
1,923
1,922
Innovation Accounte
496
196
196
196
196
Buildings and Facilities (B&F)
129
200
200
200
200
Natl Institute for Research on Safety & Quality
(NIRSQ)f
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Institutes/Centers
Office of Director (OD)a
256
Natl Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH)g
—
Natl Institute Disability/Independent
Living/Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)
—
Energy Employees Occupational Illness
Compensation
—
Subtotal, NIH
—
200
—
95
—
55
—
36,161
33,847
37,411
38,066
37,937
PHS Program Evaluation
923
741
923
1,018
1,147
Superfund (Interior approp. to NIEHS)h
77
54
80
78
Est. 78i
Mandatory type 1 diabetes funds0
150
150
150
150
38,564
39,312
39,312
NIH Program Level
37,311
150
34,792
Source: H.Rept. 115-952, pp. 573-575, except as noted below.
Notes: Totals may differ from the sum of the components due to rounding. Amounts in table may differ from
actuals in many cases. By convention, budget tables such as Table 9 do not subtract the amount of transfers,
such as the evaluation tap, from the agencies’ appropriation. Consistent with H.Rept. 115-952, amounts in the
FY2019 President’s request column do not include the NIH’s proposed share ($750 million) of an additional $10
billion in HHS-wide opioid-related funding requested in the FY2019 President’s budget.
a. Amounts for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) do not include
mandatory funding for type 1 diabetes research (see note g).
b. Amounts for National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) do not include funds from PHS
Evaluation Set-Aside (§241 of the PHS Act).
c. Amounts for National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) do not include Interior
Appropriation for Superfund research (see note g).
d. Includes $12.6 million for the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act.
e. The amount shown for the NIH Innovation Account in each of the FY2019 columns represents only a
portion ($196 million) of the total appropriation to the account ($711 million) under each of the FY2019
proposals. The remaining funds for this account are incorporated, where applicable, into the totals shown
for NCI ($400 million), NINDS ($57.5 million), and NIMH ($57.5 million).
f.
Amount for NIRSQ does not include the estimated $124 million in mandatory funding transfers from the
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (PCORTF).
g. Amount for NIOSH does not include the estimated $55 million in mandatory funding transfers from the
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation funds.
h. This is a separate account in the Interior/Environment appropriations for National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) research activities related to Superfund. President’s Budget Request
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i.
j.
figure is from National Institutes of Health, Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees, Vol 1.
Overview, p. 92, https://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY19/br/Overview.pdf; House Committee figure is
from H.Rept. 115-765, p. 82; Senate figure is from S.Rept. 115-276, p. 95.
At the time of writing, full-year FY2019 appropriations have not been enacted for the Interior-Environment
bill, which provides Superfund appropriations. Temporary appropriations for the bill have been provided
through December 7 by a continuing resolution contained in Division C of P.L. 115-245. In the absence of
final FY2019 Superfund appropriations, the lower Senate-reported recommendation was used as a
conservative estimate of the Superfund research appropriation to NIEHS.
Mandatory funds available to NIDDK for type 1 diabetes research under PHS Act §330B (provided by
§50902 P.L. 115-123 for FY2018 and FY2019). These funds are specified at $150 million annually. In the
FY2019 budget proposal these funds are included as discretionary funds within the NIDDK budget, rather
than mandatory funds; however, Congress did not adopt this proposal.
Department of Energy68
The Department of Energy (DOE) was established in 1977 by the Department of Energy
Organization Act (P.L. 95-91), which combined energy-related programs from a variety of
agencies with defense-related nuclear programs that dated back to the Manhattan Project. Today,
DOE conducts basic scientific research in fields ranging from nuclear physics to the biological
and environmental sciences; basic and applied R&D relating to energy production and use; and
R&D on nuclear weapons, nuclear nonproliferation, and defense nuclear reactors. The department
has a system of 17 national laboratories around the country, mostly operated by contractors, that
together account for about 40% of all DOE expenditures.
The Administration’s FY2019 budget request for DOE includes about $11.720 billion for R&D
and related activities, including programs in three broad categories: science, national security, and
energy. This request is 21.9% less than the enacted FY2018 amount of $15.011 billion. The
House bill would provide $15.473 billion. The Senate bill would provide $15.362 billion. (See
Table 10 for details.)
The request for the DOE Office of Science is $5.391 billion, a decrease of 13.9% from the
FY2018 appropriation of $6.260 billion. Within that total, funding for Advanced Scientific
Computing Research would increase by $89 million (11.0%), largely to support the DOE-wide
Exascale Computing Initiative. The office’s other major research programs would all receive
decreases. Funding for Fusion Energy Sciences would decrease by $192 million (36.1%),
including a decrease to $75 million (from $122 million in FY2018) for the U.S. contribution to
construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a fusion energy
demonstration and research facility in France. Funding for Biological and Environmental
Research would decrease by $173 million (25.7%), with reductions concentrated in the Earth and
Environmental Systems Sciences subprogram (relative to FY2017; the FY2018 appropriation did
not specify an allocation between subprograms). Funding for Science Laboratories Infrastructure,
which supports DOE laboratory facilities, infrastructure, and construction, would decrease by
50.7%, from $257 million in FY2018 to $127 million in the FY2019 request.
The House bill would provide $6.600 billion for the Office of Science, including $15 million
more than the request for Advanced Scientific Computing Research; $250 million more than the
request for Fusion Energy Sciences (including $163 million for ITER); $173 million more than
the request for Biological and Environmental Research (but again no specified allocation by
subprogram); and $290 million for Science Laboratories Infrastructure. The Senate bill would
provide $6.650 billion, including $81 million more than the request for Advanced Scientific
68 This section was written by (name redacted), Specialist in Science and Technology Policy, CRS Resources, Science,
and Industry Division.
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Computing Research; $85 million more than the request for Fusion Energy Sciences (including
$122 million for ITER); $215 million more than the request for Biological and Environmental
Research (including $39 million more than the FY2017 amount for Earth and Environmental
Systems Sciences); and $302 million for Science Laboratories Infrastructure.
The request for DOE national security R&D is $4.268 billion, an increase of 0.5% from $4.249
billion in FY2018. Funding for the Naval Reactors program would increase (up $169 million,
10.4%). In the Weapons Activities account (down $39 million, 1.9%) requested increases for most
programs would be offset by a decrease of $126 million (23.1%) for Inertial Confinement Fusion.
Within Inertial Confinement Fusion, nearly half of the proposed decrease would be in the Ignition
subprogram (down $57 million, 71.8%), and support for the Laboratory for Laser Energetics ($68
million in FY2017, not specified for FY2018, $45 million in the FY2019 request) would be
phased out over three years.
The House bill would provide $4.371 billion for national security R&D, including the requested
amount for Naval Reactors and $33 million more than the request for Weapons Activities. Within
Weapons Activities, it would provide $91 million more than the request for Inertial Confinement
Fusion, including $68 million for the Omega Laser Facility at the Laboratory for Laser
Energetics. The Senate bill would provide $4.182 billion, including the FY2018 amount for Naval
Reactors and $47 million more than the request for Weapons Activities. Within Weapons
Activities, it would provide $126 million more than the request for Inertial Confinement Fusion,
including $80 million for the Omega facility.
The request for DOE energy R&D is $2.061 billion, a decrease of 54.2% from $4.502 billion in
FY2018. Funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy R&D would decrease by 65.5%,
with reductions in all major research areas and a shift in emphasis toward early-stage R&D rather
than later-stage development and deployment. Funding for fossil energy R&D would decrease by
30.9%, with reductions focused particularly on coal carbon capture and storage ($40 million,
down from $198 million in FY2018) and natural gas technologies ($6 million, down from $50
million in FY2018). Funding for nuclear energy would decrease by 37.2%, with no funding
requested for the Integrated University Program ($5 million in FY2018) or the Supercritical
Transformational Electric Power (STEP) R&D initiative ($5 million in FY2018) and $60 million
requested for fuel cycle R&D (down from $260 million in FY2018). The Advanced Research
Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), which is intended to advance high-impact energy
technologies that have too much technical and financial uncertainty to attract near-term privatesector investment, would be terminated.
The House bill would provide $4.502 billion for energy R&D. This total would include $1.080
billion more than the request for energy efficiency and renewable energy R&D; $283 million
more than the request for fossil energy R&D (including $192 million for coal carbon capture and
storage and $50 million for natural gas technologies); $589 million more than the request for
nuclear energy (including $5 million for the Integrated University Program, $5 million for STEP
R&D, and $255 million for fuel cycle R&D); and $325 million for ARPA-E. The Senate bill
would provide $4.531 billion, including the FY2018 amount ($1.321 billion more than the
request) for energy efficiency and renewable energy R&D; the FY2018 amount ($225 million
more than the request) for fossil energy R&D (including $207 million for coal carbon capture and
storage and $53 million for natural gas technologies); approximately the FY2018 amount ($449
million more than the request) for nuclear energy (including $5 million for the Integrated
University Program, no funding for STEP R&D, and $267 million for fuel cycle R&D); and $375
million for ARPA-E.
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Table 10. Department of Energy R&D and Related Activities
(budget authority, in millions of dollars)
FY2018
Enacted
FY2019
Request
FY2019
House
FY2019
Senate
$6,260
$5,391
$6,600
$6,650
Basic Energy Sciences
2,090
1,850
2,129
2,193
High Energy Physics
908
770
1,005
1,010
Biological and Environmental Research
673
500
673
715
Nuclear Physics
684
600
690
710
Advanced Scientific Computing Research
810
899
915
980
Fusion Energy Sciences
532
340
590
425
Other
563
432
599
617
4,249
4,268
4,371
4,182
Weapons Activities RDT&E
2,034
1,995
2,028
2,042
Naval Reactors
1,620
1,789
1,789
1,620
Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation R&D
557
456
520
487
Defense Environmental Cleanup Technol. Devel.
38
28
35
32
4,502
2,061
4,502
4,531
2,016
696
1,776
2,016
Fossil Energy R&D
727
502
785
727
Nuclear Energy
Science
National Security
Energy
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energya
1,205
757
1,346
1,206
Electricity Delivery R&Db
201
36
152
—
Cybersec., En. Security, & Emerg. Response R&D
—
70
118
207
Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy
353
0
325
375
15,011
11,720
15,473
15,362
DOE, Total
FY2019
Enacted
Source: FY2018 enacted from P.L. 115-141 and explanatory statement, Congressional Record, March 22, 2018.
FY2019 request from DOE FY2019 congressional budget justification, https://www.energy.gov/cfo/downloads/fy2019-budget-justification. FY2019 House from H.R. 5895 as passed by the House and H.Rept. 115-697. FY2019
Senate from H.R. 5895 as passed by the Senate and S.Rept. 115-258 (on S. 2975).
Note: Totals may differ from the sum of the components due to rounding.
a. Excluding Weatherization and Intergovernmental Activities.
b. Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability R&D in FY2018. Includes Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and
Emergency Response R&D in FY2018. Included in Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response
R&D in FY2019 Senate.
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration69
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created in 1958 by the National
Aeronautics and Space Act (P.L. 85-568) to conduct civilian space and aeronautics activities.
NASA has research programs in planetary science, Earth science, heliophysics, astrophysics, and
aeronautics, as well as development programs for future human spacecraft and for multipurpose
space technology such as advanced propulsion systems. In addition, NASA operates the
International Space Station (ISS) as a facility for R&D and other purposes.
Because final FY2018 funding was not available at the time the FY2019 budget was prepared,
requested R&D funding is compared to the FY2017 actual funding.
The Administration is requesting about $16.474 billion for NASA R&D in FY2019. This is 1.6%
less than the FY2017 level of about $16.743 billion. For a breakdown of these amounts, see Table
11. NASA R&D funding comes through five accounts: Science; Aeronautics; Exploration
Research and Technology (formerly Space Technology); Deep Space Exploration Systems
(formerly Exploration); and the ISS, Commercial Crew, and Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
Development portions of LEO and Spaceflight Operations (formerly Space Operations).
The FY2019 request for Science is $5.895 billion, an increase of 2.3% relative to FY2017. Within
this total, funding for Earth Science would decrease by $124 million (6.5%); funding for
Planetary Science would increase by $407 million (22.3%); and funding for Astrophysics would
decrease by $167 million (12.3%). The request for Earth Science assumes the termination of three
items in the Earth Systematic Missions program: the Pre-Aerosol, Clouds, and Ocean Ecosystem
(PACE) mission; the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO)
Pathfinder mission; and the NASA-provided instruments on the Deep Space Climate Observatory
(DSCOVR) mission. These were also proposed for termination in the FY2018 budget; Congress
funded them for FY2018 in legislation enacted after the release of the FY2019 budget. The
proposed increase for Planetary Science includes $90 million in new funding for the Double
Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a mission to demonstrate the redirection of an asteroid for the
purpose of planetary defense; and an increase of $199 million to fund a new Lunar Discovery and
Exploration program, including public-private partnerships for research using commercial lunar
landers. In Astrophysics, a proposed decrease of $265 million for the James Webb Space
Telescope (JWST, previously a separate budget item) is consistent with that mission’s previous
plans; a proposed decrease of $100 million for Exoplanet Exploration reflects the proposed
cancellation of the Wide Field Infrared Space Telescope (WFIRST).
The FY2019 request for Aeronautics is $634 million, a decrease of 3.4% relative to FY2017. The
request includes $88 million (up from $19 million in FY2017) for the Low Boom Flight
Demonstrator, intended to demonstrate quiet supersonic flight. This increase would be offset by a
decrease of $50 million for the Airspace Operations and Safety program and a $44 million
decrease for the Advanced Air Vehicles program.
The FY2019 request for Exploration Research and Technology is $1.003 billion, an increase of
21.3% relative to FY2017. This account supports the Space Technology Mission Directorate, the
Human Research Program, and certain activities previously in the Advanced Exploration Systems
program. Funding for Technology Maturation would increase by $82 million. Funding for
Technology Demonstration would increase by $70 million, but within Technology
Demonstration, funding for the Restore-L mission and other in-space robotic satellite servicing
69 This section was written by (name redacted), Specialist in Science and Technology Policy, CRS Resources, Science,
and Industry Division.
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activities would decrease by $85 million. Funding for the Human Research Program would be the
same as in FY2017.
The FY2019 request for Deep Space Exploration Systems is $4.559 billion, an increase of 9.0%
relative to FY2017. This account funds development of the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle and
the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket, the capsule and launch vehicle mandated by
the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 for future human exploration beyond Earth orbit. The first
test flight of SLS carrying Orion but no crew (known as EM-1) is now expected no earlier than
December 2019. The first flight of Orion and the SLS with a crew on board (known as EM-2) is
now expected in late 2022 or early 2023. Funding for Orion, the SLS, and related ground systems
(collectively known as Exploration Systems Development) would decrease by $259 million
relative to FY2017. The account also funds Advanced Exploration Systems, which would
increase by $791 million relative to FY2017. That increase would include $504 million in new
funding for a platform in lunar orbit (known as the Gateway) to serve as a test bed for deep space
human exploration capabilities.
In the LEO and Spaceflight Operations account, the request for Commercial Crew is $173
million, a decrease of 85.4% relative to FY2017; the request for the ISS is $1.462 billion, an
increase of 0.8%; and the request for Commercial LEO Development, a new program, is $150
million. The reduction in Commercial Crew funding reflects the expected transition of
commercial crew activities from development to operations. Boeing and SpaceX are both
expected to begin postcertification crewed flights to the ISS in the first half of 2019. The
Commercial LEO Development program is intended to stimulate a commercial space economy in
low Earth orbit, including the commercial provision of NASA’s requirements for research and
technology demonstration after the proposed end of direct ISS funding in 2025.
Table 11. National Aeronautics and Space Administration R&D
(budget authority, in millions of dollars)
FY2017
FY2019
Request
5,762
5,895
Earth Science
1,908
1,784
Planetary Science
1,828
2,235
Astrophysics
1,352
1,185
Heliophysics
675
691
Aeronautics
656
634
Exploration Research and Technology
827
1,003
Deep Space Exploration Systems
4,184
4,559
Exploration Systems Development
3,929
3,670
98
889
Science
Advanced Exploration Systems
Exploration R&D
157
—
2,636a
1,785a
International Space Station
1,451
1,462
Commercial Crew
1,185
173
—
150
14,064
13,876
LEO and Spaceflight Operationsa
Commercial LEO Development
Subtotal R&D
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FY2019
Senate
FY2019
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
FY2017
FY2019
Request
Non-R&D Programsb
2,445
2,879
Safety, Security, and Mission Services
2,769
2,750
2,359
2,277
376d
388
Associated with R&Dc
320
322
NASA, Total (R&D)
16,743
16,474
NASA, Total
19,653d
19,892
Associated with R&Dc
Construction & Environmental C&R
FY2019
House
FY2019
Senate
FY2019
Enacted
Sources: NASA FY2019 congressional budget justification, http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/. The FY2019
House, Senate, and Enacted columns will be completed as Congress acts on appropriations legislation.
Notes: FY2017 amounts reflect NASA’s operating plan as of the release of the FY2019 budget. In some cases
they are not directly comparable to enacted FY2017 appropriations because of changes in account structure.
Totals may differ from the sum of the components due to rounding. LEO = Low Earth Orbit. C&R = Compliance
and Remediation.
a. Excluding non-R&D activities: Space and Flight Support and Space Transportation other than Commercial
Crew.
b. Non-R&D activities in LEO and Spaceflight Operations (see note a); Education; and Inspector General.
c. CRS estimates the allocation between R&D and non-R&D in proportion to the underlying program amounts
in order to allow calculation of a total for R&D. The Safety, Security, and Mission Services account and the
Construction and Environmental Compliance and Remediation account consist mostly of indirect costs for
other programs, assessed in proportion to their direct costs.
d. Does not include $109 million in emergency appropriations for natural disaster repairs.
National Science Foundation70
The National Science Foundation supports basic research and education in the non-medical
sciences and engineering. Congress established the foundation as an independent federal agency
in 1950 and directed it to “promote the progress of science; to advance the national health,
prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense; and for other purposes.”71 The NSF is a
primary source of federal support for U.S. university research, especially in mathematics and
computer science. It is also responsible for significant shares of the federal science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education program portfolio and federal STEM student
aid and support.72
NSF has six appropriations accounts: Research and Related Activities (RRA, the main research
account), Education and Human Resources (EHR, the main education account), Major Research
Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC), Agency Operations and Award Management
(AOAM), the National Science Board (NSB), and the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Appropriations are generally provided at the account level, while program-specific direction may
70 This section was written by Laurie Harris, Analyst in Science and Technology Policy, CRS Resources, Science, and
Industry Division.
71 The National Science Foundation Act of 1950 (P.L. 81-507).
72 For more information about NSF and the agency’s funding history, see CRS Report R45009, The National Science
Foundation: FY2018 Appropriations and Funding History, by (name redacted) .
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be included in appropriations acts, or accompanying conference reports or explanatory
statements.
Because final FY2018 funding was not available at the time the FY2019 budget request was
prepared, requested R&D funding is compared to the FY2017 actual funding. FY2018 funding
levels, enacted March 23, 2018, are included for reference.73 These amounts are available only at
the account level; FY2018 R&D breakouts and subaccount funding amounts are not yet available
for comparison.
Funding for R&D is included in the RRA, EHR, and MREFC accounts. (The RRA and EHR
accounts also include non-R&D funding.) Together, these three accounts comprise 95% of the
total requested funding for NSF. Actual R&D obligations for each account are known after NSF
allocates funding appropriations to specific activities and reports those figures.74 The budget
request specifies R&D funding for the conduct of research, including basic and applied research,
and for physical assets, including R&D facilities and major equipment. Funding amounts for
FY2017 actual and FY2019 requested levels are reported by account, including amounts for R&D
conduct and physical assets where applicable, in Table 12.
Overall. The Administration is requesting $7.47 billion for the NSF in FY2019, $295.4 million
(3.8%) less than the FY2018 enacted amount, and equal to the FY2017 actual amount. The
requested amount reflects an additional $2.20 billion provided for NSF in the Addendum to the
President’s FY19 Budget to Account for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.75 The request would
decrease budget authority in two accounts relative to the FY2017 enacted level: MREFC by
$128.1 million (57.5%) and AOAM by $48.4 million (12.7%). The request would provide slight
increases to the RRA (2.4%, $144.1 million), OIG (1.6%, $0.25 million), and NSB (1.2%, $0.05
million) accounts, and no change for the EHR account. Overall, NSF estimates that, under the
FY2019 request, agency-wide funding rates (i.e., the percentage of submitted proposals that are
successfully awarded funding) would decrease slightly from 23% to 22%, resulting in 300 fewer
grants awarded, compared to FY2017.
As a proportion of NSF’s total funding, R&D activities account for approximately 82%. For
FY2019, $6.12 billion is requested for R&D activities, a 3% increase from FY2017 actual
funding for R&D of $5.95 billion. The total request includes $5.68 billion (93%) for the conduct
of R&D, and $441 million (7%) for R&D facilities and major equipment. Of funding requested
for the conduct of R&D, 87% is requested for basic research, and 13% for applied research.
Overall funding for R&D facilities and major equipment supports not only the construction and
acquisition phases, funded through MREFC ($94.7 million requested), but also the planning,
design, and post-construction operations and maintenance, funded through RRA ($346.3 million
requested).
Research. The Administration seeks $6.151 billion for RRA in FY2019, a $183.8 (2.9%) decrease
compared to the FY2018 enacted funding, and a $144.2 million (2.4%) increase compared to
FY2017 actual funding. Compared to the FY2017 actual levels, the FY2019 request includes
decreases for 7 of the 10 RRA subaccounts. The largest percentage increase would go to
Integrative Activities (27%, $116 million increase). The largest percentage decrease would go to
73 The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141); and Explanatory Statement, Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2018, Division B (Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018),
Congressional Record, vol. 164, no. 50—Book II (March 22, 2018), p. H2084.
74 R&D actual (FY2017) and requested (FY2019) amounts are reported in the “Quantitative Data Tables” section of the
FY2019 NSF Budget Request to Congress, February 28, 2018, pp. QDT-1–QDT-7.
75 Released by OMB on February 12, 2018, and available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/
Addendum-to-the-FY-2019-Budget.pdf.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE, 9.1%, $24.7 million decrease) The FY2019
request also includes $160 million for the RRA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive
Research (EPSCoR) program, equal to the $160 million directed in the explanatory statement for
FY2017 enacted funding.
Within the RRA account, the FY2019 request includes $5.617 billion for R&D, an increase of
$162.5 million (3.2%) compared to the FY2017 actual amount. Of this amount, the majority
($5.270 billion, 94%) is requested for the conduct of research, including $4.79 billion for basic
research and $483 million for applied research.
Education. The FY2019 request for the EHR account is $28.6 million (3.2%) less than the
FY2018 amount and equal to the FY2017 actual level of $873.37 million. By program division,
the Division of Human Resource Development would receive an increase of $37.7 million
(25.5%) over the FY2017 actual level. The divisions of research on learning in formal and
informal settings, graduate education, and undergraduate education would receive decreases of
8.8% ($203.0 million requested), 5.0% ($187.2 million requested), and 2.0% ($224.6 million
requested), respectively.
EHR programs of particular interest to congressional policymakers include the Graduate
Research Fellowship (GRF) and National Research Traineeship (NRT) programs. The FY2019
request for GRF is $270.7 million, a reduction of $48.8 million (15.3%) from the FY2017 actual
level. The FY2019 request for NRT is $52.1 million, a $0.7 million (1.4%) decrease from
FY2017.
Within EHR, requested funding for R&D is $410 million, which is nearly equal to the FY2017
actual funding amount and accounts for approximately 6.7% of the agency’s total R&D request.
All of the requested funding would support the conduct of R&D, including $131 million for basic
research and $279 million for applied research.
Construction. The MREFC account supports large construction projects and scientific
instruments, with all of the funding supporting R&D facilities. The Administration is seeking
$94.6 million for MREFC in FY2019, $88.2 million (48.2%) less than the FY2018 enacted
amount, and $128.1 million (57.5%) less than the FY2017 actual amount.
Requested MREFC funding would support three main projects, including continued construction
of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST, $48.8 million requested, 18.9% decrease from
FY2017) and the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST, $16.1 million requested, 19.4%
decrease from FY2017). The request includes $28.7 million for the Regional Class Research
Vessels (RCRV) program to build ships to support science in U.S. coastal waters, a decrease of
$93.2 million (76.4%) from FY2017, about which NSF notes the following:
In FY 2017, P.L. 115-31 appropriated $121.88 million in funding to facilitate the planning
and construction of three vessels. In the context of the President’s overall fiscal goals
intended to maintain spending restraint, this Budget Request supports construction of two
vessels.76
Other initiatives. The FY2019 NSF budget request includes funding for three multiagency
initiatives. This funding is included in multiple NSF appropriations accounts and R&D amounts
are not separately provided. The National Nanotechnology Initiative would receive $385 million,
$78 million (17%) less than in FY2017. The Networking and Information Technology Research
and Development program would receive $1.152 billion, a decrease of $85.7 million (6.9%). The
76 NSF, FY2019 NSF Budget Request to Congress, February 28, 2018, p. MREFC-21.
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U.S. Global Change Research Program would receive $238 million, $4.6 million (1.9%) less than
in FY2017.77
Table 12. National Science Foundation Funding
(budget authority in millions of dollars)
Account
FY2017
Actual
FY2018
Enacted
FY2019
Request
Research and Related Activities (RRA)
6,006.5
6,334.5
6,150.7
R&D, RRA Total
5,313.1
n/a
5,616.7
Conduct of R&D
5,107.9
n/a
5,270.4
R&D Facilities and Major Equipment
205.2
n/a
346.3
Education and Human Resources
(EHR)
873.4
902.0
873.4
R&D, EHR Total
409.8
n/a
410.0
Conduct of R&D
409.7
n/a
410.0
R&D Facilities and Major Equipment
0.1
n/a
0.0
Major Research Equipment and
Facilities Construction (MREFC)
222.8
182.8
94.7
R&D, MREFC Total
222.8
n/a
94.7
Conduct of R&D
0.0
n/a
0.0
R&D Facilities and Major Equipment
222.8
n/a
94.7
Agency Operations and Award
Management (AOAM)a
382.1
328.5
333.6
National Science Board (NSB)a
4.3
4.4
4.3
Office of the Inspector General (OIG)a
15.1
15.2
15.4
NSF, Total
7,504.1
7,767.4
7,472.0
R&D, NSF Total
5,945.7
n/a
6,121.4
5,517.6
n/a
5,680.4
428.1
n/a
441.0
Total, Conduct of R&D
Total, R&D Facilities & Major Equipment
FY2019
House
FY2019
Senate
FY2019
Enacted
Source: Data in the columns titled, “FY2017 Actual” and “FY2019 Request” are from the FY2019 NSF Budget
Request to Congress. Data in the “FY2018 Enacted” column are from P.L. 115-141.
Notes: Appropriations accounts are in bold. NSF total may differ from the sum of the accounts due to rounding.
Non-bold R&D funding amounts are a subset of funding for the specified accounts. The term “n/a” means not
available. Figures for the columns headed “FY2019 House,” “FY2019 Senate,” and “FY2019 Enacted” will be
added, if available, as each action is completed.
a. The AOAM, NSB, and OIG accounts have no reported R&D funding.
77 For additional information on these initiatives, see “Multiagency R&D Initiatives.”
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
Department of Agriculture78
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was created in 1862, in part to support agricultural
research in an expanding, agriculturally dependent country. Today, USDA conducts intramural
research at federal facilities with government-employed scientists, and supports external research
at universities and other facilities through competitive grants and formula-based funding. The
breadth of contemporary USDA research spans traditional agricultural production techniques,
organic and sustainable agriculture, bioenergy, nutrition needs and composition, food safety,
animal and plant health, pest and disease management, economic decisionmaking, and other
social sciences affecting consumers, farmers, and rural communities.
Four agencies carry out USDA’s research and education activities, grouped together into the
Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area. The agencies involved are the
Agricultural Research Service (ARS), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA),
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and Economic Research Service (ERS).
The House-reported bill (H.R. 5961) recommends $3,109.0 billion for FY2019, and the Senatepassed bill (S. 6147) is recommending a total for the four agencies of $2,985.7 billion. The
FY2018 Omnibus Appropriations Act (P.L. 115-141) provides a total of $3.09.7 billion in
discretionary funding for the four research agencies. For FY2019, the Administration requested a
total of $2,486.5 billion, a $543.2 million (18.0%) reduction from FY2018 (see Table 13). In
addition to discretionary appropriations, agricultural research is also funded by state matching
contributions and private donations or grants, as well as mandatory funding from the farm bill.79
USDA’s FY2018 discretionary appropriations for the four research agencies are profiled below.
Agricultural Research Service
The Agricultural Research Service is USDA’s in-house basic and applied research agency. It
operates approximately 90 laboratories nationwide with about 6,600 employees. ARS laboratories
focus on efficient food and fiber production, development of new products and uses for
agricultural commodities, development of effective controls for pest management, and support of
USDA regulatory and technical assistance programs. ARS also operates the National Agricultural
Library, one of the department’s primary information repositories for food, agriculture, and
natural resource sciences.
For FY2019, the Senate-passed bill recommends $1,301.0 billion for ARS salaries and expenses,
a +8.2% increase over FY2018 ($1,202.8 billion). The House-reported bill recommends $1,259.9
billion, a +4.8% increase over FY2018. The Administration had requested $1,019.0 billion for
ARS for FY2019. The House-reported bill also provides $136.0 million for buildings and
facilities, while the Senate-passed bill provides no appropriation for buildings and facilities, the
same as requested by the Administration (Table 13).
In FY2019, ARS will assume ownership of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF)
from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The FY2018 enacted bill provides $4.0
million for NBAF. For FY2019, the Senate-passed bill recommends $10.6 million for the NBAF
to address one-time costs associated with the transfer of the science program from the Plum
Island Animal Disease Center to NBAF, and $42 million to address stand-up activities to operate
78 This section was written by (name redacted), Analyst in Natural Resources and Rural Development, CRS Resources,
Science, and Industry Division.
79 For additional background on agricultural appropriations, see CRS Report R44588, Agriculture and Related
Agencies: FY2017 Appropriations, coordinated by (name redacted)
.
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NBAF. The Senate-passed bill also recommends an additional $5 million for ARS to increase
research efforts on foreign animal diseases. The Administration requested $53 million for the
facility for FY2019.
With respect to the pending move to the NBAF, the House committee directs ARS, in
collaboration with other USDA agencies and in consultation with DHS, to report to Congress
within 120 days of enactment with an estimate of the funding needs for NBAF for each fiscal
year FY2019-2023. The committee also directs ARS to include in the report strategic research
goals based on NBAF’s enhanced research capabilities and for stakeholder engagement.
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) provides federal funding for research,
education, and extension projects conducted in partnership with the State Agricultural Experiment
Stations, the State Cooperative Extension System, land grant universities, colleges, and other
research and education institutions, as well as individual researchers. These partnerships include
the 1862 land-grant institutions, 1890 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs),
established by the Morrill Acts, the 1994 tribal land-grant colleges, and Hispanic-serving
institutions.80 Federal funds enhance capacity at universities and institutions through statutory
formula funding, competitive awards, and grants.81
For FY2019, the House-reported bill recommends $1,452.6 billion in discretionary spending for
NIFA activities, an increase of +3.2% over FY2018 ($1,407.8 billion).The Administration’s
FY2019 request for NIFA is $1,257.6 billion, a reduction of $150.2 million (10.6%) over
FY2018. The Senate-passed bill recommends $1,423.2 billion, a +1.1% increase over FY2018
(Table 13). The Senate-passed bill recommends $243.7 million to support Hatch Act funding for
1862 land grant university research and education activities, the same as FY2018 and the same as
requested.
The House-reported bill recommends $259.0 million for Hatch fund, a +6.3% increase over
FY2018. For McIntire-Stennis cooperative forestry research support, the Senate-passed bill
recommends $36.0 million, the same as the House-reported bill, and $2 million more than for
FY2018. For research at the 1890 HBCUs, the House-reported bill recommends $60.0 million
and the Senate-passed bill recommends $54.2 million, the same as enacted for FY2018, and
nearly the same as requested ($53.8 million).
The Senate-passed bill also recommends $405.0 million for the Agriculture and Food Research
Initiative (AFRI)—USDA’s flagship competitive research grants program. The House-reported
bill recommends $415.0 million. For FY2018, AFRI has an appropriation of $400.0 million. The
Administration had requested $25 million less ($375.0 million) for AFRI in FY2019.This budget
line currently represents about 28% of the NIFA discretionary budget.
For Cooperative Extension support under Smith-Lever Sections (b) and (c) formula funding for
FY2019, the House-reported bill recommends a total of $315.0 million, a +5.0% increase over
FY2018 ($300 million), and the Senate-passed bill recommends $300 million, the same as
enacted for FY2018. The House-reported bill also recommends $180.6 million and the Senatepassed bill would provide $186.7 million to support other Smith-Lever extension activities.
80 The numbers 1862, 1890, and 1994 in this context refer to the years that laws were enacted creating these
classifications of colleges and universities, not to the number of institutions.
81 The National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 designated USDA as the lead
federal agency for higher education in the food and agricultural sciences.
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National Agricultural Statistics Service
The National Agricultural Statistics Service conducts the quinquennial Census of Agriculture and
provides official statistics on agricultural production and indicators of the economic and
environmental status of the farm sector.
For FY2019, the Senate-passed bill recommends $174.8 million to NASS, of which $45.3 million
is reserved to support data collection for the 2017 Census of Agriculture. The House-reported bill
recommends $173.7 million, and also reserves $45.3 million for Census of Agriculture activities.
The FY2018 enacted appropriation provides $191.7 million to NASS. The Administration had
requested $165.0 million for FY2019.
Economic Research Service
The Economic Research Service supports economic and social science analysis about agriculture,
rural development, food, commodity markets, and the environment. It collects and disseminates
data concerning USDA programs and policies.
For FY2019, both House-reported and Senate-passed bill would provide $86.8 million for ERS,
the same as enacted for FY2018. The Administration had requested $45.0 million for ERS in
FY2019, a 48% decrease.
Table 13. U.S. Department of Agriculture R&D
(budget authority, in millions of dollars)
FY2019
Request
FY2019
House
Reported
H.R. 5961
FY2019
Senate
Passed
H.R.
6147
1,202.8
1,018.9
1,259.9
1,301.0
140.6
0.0
136.0
0.0
1,343.4
1,018.9
1,395.9
1,301.0
AFRI (competitive grants)
400.0
375.0
415.0
405.0
Hatch Act (1862 institutions)
243.7
243.2
259.0
243.7
Evans-Allen (1890 institutions)
54.2
53.8
60.0
54.2
McIntire-Stennis (forestry)
34.0
28.9
36.0
36.0
Other
155.3
93.6
150.0
159.7
Subtotal
887.2
794.5
920.0
898.5
Smith-Lever (b) and (c)
300.0
299.4
315.0
300.0
Smith-Lever (d)
85.5
66.4
85.5
87.6
Other
98.1
84.3
95.1
99.1
483.6
450.1
495.6
486.7
Agency or Major Program
FY2018
Enacted
P.L. 115141
Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Buildings and Facilities
Subtotal, ARS
FY2019
Enacted
National Institute of Food and
Agriculture (NIFA)
Research and Education
Extension
Subtotal
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
FY2019
Request
FY2019
House
Reported
H.R. 5961
FY2019
Senate
Passed
H.R.
6147
37.0
13.0
37.0
38.0
1,407.8
1,257.6
1,452.6
1,423.2
National Agricultural Statistics
Service (NASS)
191.7
165.0
173.7
174.8
Economic Research Service (ERS)
86.8
45.0
86.8
86.8
Total, USDA Research Mission Area
3,029.7
2,486.5
3,109.0
2,985.7
Agency or Major Program
Integrated Activities
Subtotal, NIFA
FY2018
Enacted
P.L. 115141
FY2019
Enacted
Source: CRS, compiled P.L. 115-141; H.Rept. 115-706; S.Rept. 115-259; Omnibus Appropriation Explanatory
Statement, Division A; 2019 USDA Budget Explanatory Notes; H.R. 5961; H.Rept. 115-706; H.R. 6147 (Senate-passed).
Department of Commerce
Two agencies of the Department of Commerce have major R&D programs: the National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA).
National Institute of Standards and Technology82
The mission of the National Institute of Standards and Technology is “to promote U.S. innovation
and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in
ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.”83 NIST research provides
measurement, calibration, and quality assurance methods and techniques that support U.S.
commerce, technological progress, product reliability, manufacturing processes, and public safety.
NIST’s responsibilities include the development, maintenance, and custodial retention of the
national standards of measurement; providing the means and methods for making measurements
consistent with those standards; and ensuring the compatibility of U.S. national measurement
standards with those of other nations.84
It should be noted that the FY2018 enacted funding levels were not known at the time the
President’s FY2019 budget was prepared, as the budget process had not been completed.
The President is requesting $629.1 billion in funding for NIST in FY2019, a decrease of $569.4
million (47.5%) from the FY2018 enacted appropriation of $1,198.5 million. (See Table 14.)
NIST discretionary funding is provided through three accounts: Scientific and Technical Research
and Services (STRS), Industrial Technology Services (ITS), and Construction of Research
Facilities (CRF).
82 This section was written by (name redacted), Specialist in Science and Technology Policy, CRS Resources,
Science, and Industry Division.
83 NIST website, “General Information,” http://nist.gov/public_affairs/general_information.cfm.
84 15 U.S.C. 272.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2019
The President’s FY2019 request includes $573.4 million for R&D, standards coordination, and
related services in the STRS account, a decrease of $151.1 million (20.9%) from the FY2018
enacted level.85
The FY2019 request would provide $15.1 million for the Industrial Technology Services (ITS)
account, down $139.9 million (90.3%) from the FY2018 enacted level. Within the ITS account,
the request would provide no funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)
program, a reduction of $140.0 million from the FY2018 enacted level; MEP centers in each state
would be required to become entirely self-supporting. The request provides $15.1 million
provided for Manufacturing USA (also referred to as the National Network for Manufacturing
Innovation or NNMI), essentially unchanged from the FY2018 enacted level. Of these funds,
$10.0 million would be for continued support of the NIST-sponsored National Institute for
Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) manufacturing institute, with the
balance ($5.1 million) to be used for coordination of the Manufacturing USA network.86
The President is requesting $40.5 million for FY2019 for the NIST CRF account, down $278.5
million (87.3%) from the FY2018 enacted level.87
Table 14. National Institute of Standards and Technology Funding
(budget authority, in millions of dollars)
FY2018
Enacted
FY2019
Request
Scientific and Technical Research and
Services
724.5
573.4
Industrial Technology Services
155.0
15.1a
Manufacturing Extension Partnership
140.0
0.0
Manufacturing USA/ National Network for
Manufacturing Innovation
15.0
15.1
319.0
40.5
1,198.5
629.1
Account
Construction of Research Facilities
NIST, Totalb
FY2019
House
FY2019
Senate
FY2019
Enacted
Source: The FY2018 enacted amounts were taken from the joint explanatory statement to accompany P.L. 115141, printed in the March 22, 2018, Congressional Record (pp. H2084-H2115). FY2019 amounts from U.S.
Department of Commerce, Department of Commerce, Budget in Brief, Fiscal Year 2019,
https://www.commerce.gov/sites/commerce.gov/files/
us_department_of_commerce_budget_in_brief_fiscal_year_2019.pdf.
Notes: Figures for the columns headed “FY2019 House,” “
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