Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Congressional research reportJan 19, 2022
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Federal Research and Development (R&D)
Funding: FY2022
Updated January 19, 2022
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R46869
SUMMARY
Federal Research and Development (R&D)
Funding: FY2022
President Biden’s budget request for FY2022 includes approximately $171.3 billion for research
and development (R&D), $13.5 billion (8.5%) above the FY2021 estimated level of $157.8
billion. In constant FY2022 dollars, the FY2022 R&D request represents an increase of $10.6
billion (6.6%) above the FY2021 estimated level.
R46869
January 19, 2022
John F. Sargent Jr.,
Coordinator
Specialist in Science and
Technology Policy
Funding for R&D is concentrated in a few federal departments and agencies. In FY2021, five
agencies received 93.0% of total federal R&D funding, with the Department of Defense (DOD,
40.1%) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, 27.6%) combined accounting for more than two -thirds of
all federal R&D funding. In the FY2022 request, the top five R&D agencies would account for 92.4%, with DOD accounting
for 36.7% and HHS for 29.9%.
Federal Research and Development
Funding, FY2020-FY2022
In billions of dollars
Under the President’s FY2022 budget request, nearly all federal
agencies would see their R&D funding increase relative to FY2021.
The only exception is DOD, which would decrease by $550 million
(0.9%) in FY2022 to $62.8 billion. The largest dollar increases in R&D
funding would be made to HHS (up $7.7 billion, 17.8%), the
Department of Energy (up $2.1 billion, 11.1%), and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (up $1.3 billion, 10.1%). The
largest percentage increases in R&D funding would be at the
Department of the Interior (up 30.8%), the Department of Commerce
(up 29.3%), and the Department of Agriculture (up 21.7%).
The President’s FY2022 budget request would increase funding for
basic research by $4.4 billion (10.2%), applied research by $6.3 billion
(14.0%), development by $2.4 billion (3.6%), and R&D facilities and
equipment by $380 million (9.0%).
Source: CRS analysis of data from OMB, Analytical
Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government,
Fiscal Year 2022, Research and Development, May 28,
2021.
Several multiagency R&D initiatives continue under the President’s
FY2022 budget request. Some activities supporting these initiatives are
discussed in agency budget justifications. However, comprehensive
aggregate budget information on these initiatives will likely not be
available until budget supplements for each are released later in the
year.
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. Congress provides annual R&D appropriations through 9
of the 12 regular appropriations bills .
In recent years, Congress has completed the annual appropriations process after the start of the fiscal year. Completing the
process after 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 acquisition of R&D-related equipment.
Congressional Research Service
Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1
The President’s FY2022 Budget Request ............................................................................ 3
Federal R&D Funding Perspectives ................................................................................... 3
Federal R&D by Agency............................................................................................. 3
Federal R&D by Character of Work, Facilities, and Equipment......................................... 5
Federal Role in U.S. R&D by Character of Work ............................................................ 5
Federal R&D by Agency and Character of Work Combined ............................................. 6
Multiagency R&D Initiatives ............................................................................................ 7
Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program......................... 8
U.S. Global Change Research Program ......................................................................... 9
National Nanotechnology Initiative ............................................................................ 10
FY2022 Appropriations Status ........................................................................................ 11
Department of Defense .................................................................................................. 12
Department of Health and Human Services ....................................................................... 16
National Institutes of Health ...................................................................................... 17
Department of Energy.................................................................................................... 24
National Aeronautics and Space Administration ................................................................. 27
National Science Foundation .......................................................................................... 30
Department of Agriculture .............................................................................................. 36
Agricultural Research Service ................................................................................... 37
National Institute of Food and Agriculture ................................................................... 38
National Agricultural Statistics Service ....................................................................... 40
Economic Research Service ...................................................................................... 40
Office of the REE Under Secretary and Office of the Chief Scientist ............................... 41
Department of Commerce .............................................................................................. 43
National Institute of Standards and Technology ............................................................ 43
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ....................................................... 46
Department of Veterans Affairs ....................................................................................... 49
Department of Transportation.......................................................................................... 52
Federal Aviation Administration................................................................................. 52
Federal Highway Administration................................................................................ 53
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration .......................................................... 53
Other DOT Components ........................................................................................... 53
Department of the Interior .............................................................................................. 55
U.S. Geological Survey ............................................................................................ 55
Other DOI Components ............................................................................................ 56
Department of Homeland Security ................................................................................... 57
Environmental Protection Agency.................................................................................... 59
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Figures
Figure 1. Composition of U.S. Basic Research, Applied Research, and Development by
Funding Sector, 2019 .................................................................................................... 6
Tables
Table 1. Federal Research and Development Funding by Agency, FY2020-FY2022 .................. 4
Table 2. Federal R&D Funding by Character of Work and Facilities and Equipment,
FY2020-FY2022 .......................................................................................................... 5
Table 3. Selected R&D Funding Agencies by Character of Work, Facilities,
and Equipment, FY2020 Actual, FY2021 Estimated, and FY2022 Request............................ 7
Table 4. Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program
Funding, FY2019-FY2022............................................................................................. 9
Table 5. U.S. Global Change Research Program Funding, FY2019-FY2022 ........................... 10
Table 6. National Nanotechnology Initiative Funding, FY2019-FY2022 ................................ 11
Table 7. Alignment of Agency R&D Funding and Regular Appropriations Bills ...................... 11
Table 8. Department of Defense RDT&E .......................................................................... 15
Table 9. National Institutes of Health Funding ................................................................... 22
Table 10. Department of Energy R&D and Related Activities............................................... 26
Table 11. National Aeronautics and Space Administration R&D ........................................... 29
Table 12. National Science Foundation Funding................................................................. 34
Table 13. U.S. Department of Agriculture R&D ................................................................. 42
Table 14. National Institute of Standards and Technology Funding........................................ 45
Table 15. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration R&D ....................................... 48
Table 16. Department of Veterans Affairs R&D.................................................................. 50
Table 17. Department of Veterans Affairs R&D by Designated Research Area ........................ 51
Table 18. Department of Transportation R&D Activities and Facilities .................................. 54
Table 19. Department of the Interior R&D ........................................................................ 57
Table 20. Department of Homeland Security R&D Accounts ............................................... 59
Table 21. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science and Technology Account ................ 61
Appendixes
Appendix A. Acronyms and Abbreviations ........................................................................ 63
Appendix B. CRS Contacts for Agency R&D .................................................................... 68
Contacts
Author Information ....................................................................................................... 69
Congressional Research Service
Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Introduction
The 117th 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, federal budget caps have driven executive and legislative branch
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.
The U.S. government supports a broad range of scientific and engineering R&D. Its purposes
include 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 also 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. As
Congress acts to complete the FY2021 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 R&D in President Biden’s FY2022
budget request, followed by analyses of R&D funding in the request from a variety of
perspectives and for selected multiagency R&D initiatives. The remainder of the report discusses
and analyzes 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. Appendix B lists the primary CRS
experts on R&D funding for the agencies covered in this report.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
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.”1 This
document provides guidance to agencies in the preparation of the President’s annual budget and instructions on
budget execution. In 2017, OMB 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. This definition is
used in the President’s FY2022 budget. The new definition has resulted in lower reported R&D by some agencies,
including the Department of Defense (DOD) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). For
FY2022, OMB has also opted to exclude DOD budget activity 6.6 (“Management Support”) funding from its R&D
calculations; historically, this funding has been included in the DOD R&D total and federal R&D total figu res. DOD
R&D funding in Table 1 and Table 3 reflect this change for FY2020 and FY2021 (applied retroactively), as well as
for FY2022. OMB and DOD are currently evaluating whether budget activity 6.6 may be categorized as
experimental development in the future.
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, such as the study of how plant genomes change,
but excludes research directed towards a specific application or requirement, such as the optimization of the
genome of a specific crop species.
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. I t
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. It 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 (NSB/NSF) provides the following definitions of R&D-related terms in its report Science and
Engineering Indicators: 2020.2
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.
Development (or 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 T he White House, Office of Management and Budget, Circular No. A-11, “Preparation, Submission, and Execution of
the Budget,” April 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/a11.pdf.
2 National Science Board/National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators 2020, January 2020,
https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20201/glossary.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
The President’s FY2022 Budget Request
On May 28, 2021, President Biden released his proposed FY2022 budget. President Biden is
proposing $171.3 billion for R&D for FY2022, an increase of $13.5 billion (8.5%) above the
FY2021 level of $157.8 billion. Adjusted for inflation to FY2022 dollars, the President’s FY2022
R&D request represents a constant-dollar increase of 6.6% above the FY2021 actual level. 3
The President’s request includes continued R&D 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 FY2022 request as it relates
to R&D and related activities. More information will become available as the House and Senate
act on the President’s budget request through appropriations bills.
Factors Affecting Analysis of the FY2022 Budget Request
Several factors complicate the analysis of changes in R&D funding for FY2022, both in aggregate and for selected
agencies:
R&D included in President’s Biden’s proposed American Jobs Plan is not included in his FY2022 budget
request. The American Jobs Plan includes $50 billion for the National Science Foundation, $30 billion for
R&D at other agencies, and $40 billion to upgrade research infrastructure.
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 agenc ies and programs. Table 1 provides
data on R&D funding by agency for FY2020 (actual), FY2021 (estimate), and FY2022 (request). 4
Under the request, eight federal agencies would receive 97% of total federal R&D funding in
FY2022: the Department of Defense (DOD), 36.7%; Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS), primarily the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 29.9%; Department of Energy (DOE),
12.5%; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 8.5%; National Science
Foundation (NSF), 4.8%; Department of Agriculture (USDA), 2.1%; Department of Commerce
(DOC), 1.6%; and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), 0.9%. This report provides an analysis of
the R&D budget requests for these agencies, as well as for the Department of Homeland Security
3 As calculated by CRS using the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (chained) price index for FY2021 -FY2022 in T able
10.1, “Gross Domestic Product and Deflators Used in the Historical T ables: 1940 –2026,” Budget of the United States
Government, Fiscal Year 2022, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/hist10z1_fy22.xlsx.
4 EOP, OMB, Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2022, Research and
Development, May 28, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ap_14_research_fy22.pdf.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
(DHS), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Transportation (DOT), and
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
With the exception of DOD, all federal agencies would see their R&D funding increase under the
President’s FY2022 request compared to their FY2021 estimated levels. The agencies with the
largest R&D funding increases (measured in dollars) in the FY2022 request compared to FY2021
estimated levels are HHS (up $7.738 billion), DOE (up $2.140 billion), and NASA (up $1.339
billion). DOD R&D funding would decline by $550 million (down 0.9%). See Table 1.
The agencies with the largest percentage increases in R&D funding in the FY2022 request
compared to the FY2021 estimated level are DOT (up 30.8%), DOC (up 29.3%), USDA (up
21.7%), DOI (up 18.2%), and HHS (up 17.8%). See Table 1.
Table 1. Federal Research and Development Funding by Agency, FY2020-FY2022
(budget authority, dollar amounts in millions)
FY2021-FY2022
FY2020
Actual
FY2021
Estimate
Department of Defense
62,438 a
63,350 a
Dept. of Health and Human Services
44,455
Department of Energy
Dollar
Change
Percentage
Change
62,800
-550
-0.9%
43,494
51,232
7,738
17.8%
19,476
19,312
21,452
2,140
11.1%
NASA
14,801
13,226
14,565
1,339
10.1%
National Science Foundation
6,800
7,408
8,173
765
10.3%
Department of Agriculture
2,989
2,965
3,609
644
21.7%
Department of Commerce
1,953
2,122
2,743
621
29.3%
Department of Veterans Affairs
1,366
1,420
1,498
78
5.5%
Department of Transportation
1,043
1,024
1,339
315
30.8%
Department of the Interior
1,094
1,033
1,221
188
18.2%
Department of Homeland Security
532
590
627
37
6.3%
Smithsonian Institution
516
524
585
61
11.6%
Environmental Protection Agency
237
445
473
28
6.3%
Department of Education
344
322
346
24
7.5%
Other
582
563
597
34
6.0%
Total
158,626
157,798
171,260
13,462
8.5%
Department/Agency
FY2022
Request
Source: CRS analysis of data from EOP, OMB, Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal
Year 2022, Research and Development, May 28, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/
ap_14_research_fy22.pdf.
Notes: Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.
a.
DOD R&D in this table does not include funding for budget activity (BA) 6.6 and BA 6.7. OMB considers
BA 6.6 to be “non-investment activities” and BA 6.7 to be considered nonexperimental development.
Combined BA 6.6 and BA 6.7 funding is $46.2 billion in FY2021 and $48.0 billion for FY2022.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Federal R&D by Character of Work, Facilities, and Equipment
Federal R&D funding can also be examined by the character of w ork 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 Biden’s FY2022 request
includes $47.387 billion for basic research, up $4.402 billion (10.2%) from the FY2021 estimated
level; $51.126 billion for applied research, up $6.283 billion (14.0%); $68.136 billion for
development, up $2.397 billion (3.6%); and $4.611 billion for R&D facilities and equipment, up
$380 million (9.0%).
Table 2. Federal R&D Funding by Character of Work and Facilities and Equipment,
FY2020-FY2022
(budget authority, dollar amounts in millions)
Change, FY2021-FY2022
Character of Work, Facilities,
and Equipment
FY2020
Actual
FY2021
Estimated
FY2022
Request
Dollars
Percentage
Basic research
44,290
42,985
47,387
4,402
10.2%
Applied research
45,992
44,843
51,126
6,283
14.0%
Development
62,124
65,739
68,136
2,397
3.6%
Facilities and Equipment
6,220
4,231
4,611
380
9.0%
158,626
157,798
171,260
13,462
8.5%
Total
Source: CRS analysis of data from EOP, OMB, Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal
Year 2022, Research and Development, May 28, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/
ap_14_research_fy22.pdf.
Note: Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.
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 and uncertainty, shareholder demands
for shorter-term returns, and asymmetric and imperfect information.
The federal government is the nation’s largest supporter of basic research, funding 41% of U.S.
basic research in 2019 (the most recent year for which comprehensive data are available).
Business funded 31% of U.S. basic research in 2019, with state governments, universities, and
other nonprofit organizations funding the remaining 29%. 5 For U.S. applied research, business is
the primary funder, accounting for an estimated 55% in 2019, while the federal government
accounted for an estimated 33%. State governments, universities, and other nonprofit
5 Percentages may not sum to 100% due to rounding.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
organizations funded the remaining 12%. Business also provides the vast majority of U.S.
funding for development. Business accounted for 86% of development funding in 2019, while the
federal government provided 13%. State governments, universities, and other nonprofit
organizations funded the remaining 2% (see Figure 1). 6
Figure 1. Composition of U.S. Basic Research, Applied Research, and Development
by Funding Sector, 2019
Source: CRS analysis of National Science Foundation, National Patterns of R&D Resources: 2018–19 Data Update,
NSF 21-325, Tables 7-9, April 9, 2021.
Notes: Components may not add to total due to rounding. Data are preliminary and may be revised.
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 in each of these categories as proposed in the
President’s FY2022 budget. The overall federal R&D budget reflects a wide range of national
priorities, including supporting advances in spaceflight, developing new and affordable s ources 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 of R&D funding among basic research, applied research, development, and facilities
and equipment).
In President Biden’s FY2022 budget request, the Department of Health and Human Services,
primarily NIH, would account for more than half (50.7%) of all federal funding for basic
research. HHS would also be the largest federal funder of applied research, accounting for about
52.5% of all federally funded applied research in the President’s FY2022 budget request. DOD
would be the primary federal funder of experimental development, accounting for 80.5% of total
federal development funding in the President’s FY2022 budget request. DOE would be the
6 CRS analysis of National Science Foundation, National Patterns of R&D Resources: 2018–19 Data Update, NSF 21-
325, T ables 6-9, April 9, 2021. Data are preliminary and may be revised. Components may not add to total due to
rounding.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
primary federal funder of R&D facilities and equipment, accounting for 58.2% of total federal
R&D facilities and equipment funding in the President’s FY2022 budget request. 7
Table 3. Selected R&D Funding Agencies by Character of Work, Facilities,
and Equipment, FY2020 Actual, FY2021 Estimated, and FY2022 Request
(budget authority, dollar amounts in millions)
Change, FY2021-FY2022
FY2020
Actual
FY2021
Estimate
FY2022
Request
Dollars
Percentage
Health and Human Services
21,826
21,872
24,022
2,150
9.8%
NSF
5,437
5,966
6,532
566
9.5%
Energy
5,494
5,519
5,892
373
6.8%
Health and Human Services
22,081
21,297
26,835
5,538
26.0%
Energy
8,444
7,395
7,669
274
3.7%
Defense
6,274
6,654
5,559
-1,095
-16.5%
Defense
51,764
54,045
54,859
814
1.5%
NASA
5,430
5,990
5,915
-75
-1.3%
Energy
3,060
3,715
5,206
1,491
40.1%
2,478
2,683
2,685
2
0.1%
Commerce
366
352
657
305
86.6%
NSF
529
594
594
0
0.0%
Character of Work/Agency
Basic Research
Applied Research
Experimental Development
Facilities and Equipment
Energy
Source: CRS analysis of data from EOP, OMB, Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal
Year 2022, Research and Development, May 28, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/
ap_14_research_fy22.pdf.
Note: This table shows only the top three funding agencies in each category, based on the FY20 22 request.
Multiagency R&D Initiatives
For many years, presidential budgets have reported on multiagency R&D initiatives. Often, they
have also 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
7 CRS analysis of data from EOP, OMB, Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year
2021, Research and Development, February 10, 2020, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/
ap_17_research_fy21.pdf.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
operated at the discretion of the President, without a specific statutory mandate, and may be
eliminated at the discretion of the President. President Biden’s FY2022 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.
Networking and Information Technology Research
and Development Program8
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. The NITRD National Coordination Office (NCO)
coordinates the information technology R&D activities of 24 federal agency members and more
than 45 other participating agencies with program interests and activities in IT R&D. NITRD
efforts are further coordinated by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) NITRD
Subcommittee. 9
P.L. 102-194, as reauthorized by the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act of 2017 (P.L.
114-329), requires the director of the NITRD NCO to prepare an annual report to be delivered to
Congress along with the President’s budget request. This annual report, often referred to as a
budget supplement, is to include, among other things, detailed information on the program’s
budget for the current and previous fiscal years and the proposed budget for the next fiscal year
(FY). The latest annual report was published in August 2020 and related to the FY2021 budget
request. 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 Patricia Moloney Figliola. Additional information on the
NITRD Program can be obtained at https://www.nitrd.gov.
8 For additional information on the Networking and Information T echnology Research and Development program,
please contact Patricia Moloney Figliola, Specialist in Internet and T elecommunications Policy.
9 T he NST C was established by Executive Order 12881 in 1993. According to the White House, “T his 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 NST C 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 T echnology Policy oversees the NST C’s ongoing activities.” (Source: EOP, Office of Science and
T echnology Policy, “NST C,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/nstc/.) For more information on the NST C, see CRS
Report R43935, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP): History and Overview, by John F. Sargent Jr. and
Dana A. Shea; and https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/nstc/.
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Table 4. Networking and Information Technology Research and Development
Program Funding, FY2019-FY2022
(budget authority, in millions of current dollars)
FY2019
Actual
FY2020
Enacted
FY2021
Enacted
FY2022
Request
6,472.1
7,092.7
7,175.4
7,777.3
Total, NITRD
Source: NITRD Dashboard, accessed January 19, 2022, https://www.nitrd.gov/apps/itdashboard/dashboard/
#NITRD-RD-Budgets-Fiscal-Years-19922022.
U.S. Global Change Research Program10
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.”11
In FY2019, 10 departments and agencies received appropriations for their USGCRP participation.
USGCRP efforts are coordinated by the NSTC Subcommittee on Global Change Research. Each
agency develops and carries out its activities as its contribution to the USGCRP, and funds are
appropriated to each agency for those activities; those activities may or may not be identified as
associated with the USGCRP in agency budget justifications or other program materials available
publicly. Complementing USGCRP activities are many federal climate change or global changerelated activities with programmatic missions, not predominantly scientific. These are reported
separately in budget justifications.
The Global Change Research Act of 1990 (GCRA, P.L. 101-606) requires each federal agency or
department involved in global change research to report annually to Congress on each element of
its proposed global change research activities, as well as the portion of its budget request
allocated to each element of the program. 12 The President is also required to identify those
activities and the annual global change research budget in the President’s annual budget request.
The President’s budget requests for years later than FY2017 do not report these budget data
required by the GCRA, although some agencies report their contributions in their budget
justifications to Congress.
In addition, in the 20 years prior to FY2018, language in appropriations laws 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….”13 As these are no longer
reported by OMB, Table 5 presents data compiled by CRS from communications with
departments and agencies that participated in the USGCRP in FY2018.
10 For additional information on the U.S. Global Change Research Program, please contact Jane A. Leggett, Specialist
in Energy and Environmental Policy.
11
U.S. Global Change Research Program website, http://www.globalchange.gov/about/mission-vision-strategic-plan.
12 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.
13 See, most recently, P.L. 115-31, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, Section 416.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
For additional information on the USGCRP, see CRS Report R43227, Federal Climate Change
Funding from FY2008 to FY2014, by Jane A. Leggett, Richard K. Lattanzio, and Emily Bruner.
Additional USGCRP information can be obtained at http://www.globalchange.gov.
Table 5. U.S. Global Change Research Program Funding, FY2019-FY2022
(budget authority, in millions of current dollars)
Total, USGCRP
FY2019
Enacted
FY2020
Enacted
FY2021
Request
FY2022
Request
2,451
2,461
1,915
n/a
Source: GlobalChange.gov, https://www.globalchange.gov/about.
Notes: n/a = not available. Funding for activities that contribute to the USGCRP has been appropriated to more
than a dozen federal departments and agencies in the past, and some spending of it is transferred or coordinated
through interagency agreements. Almost all of the funding is spent directly by agencies on research and related
activities; a small percentage is spent for interagency coordination and communications in the USGCRP program
office.
National Nanotechnology Initiative14
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 sometimes useful ways from the
properties of individual atoms or bulk matter. 15 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). For FY2020, the
President’s request included NNI funding for 15 federal departments and independent agencies
and commissions with budgets dedicated to nanotechnology R&D. The NSET includes other
federal departments and 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.
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, often referred to as a
budget supplement, 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 October 2020 and related to the FY2021 budget request. President Trump requested
$1.723 billion for NNI research in FY2021, a decrease of $117 million (6.3%) from the enacted
FY2020 level. 16
For additional information on the NNI, see CRS Report RL34401, The National Nanotechnology
Initiative: Overview, Reauthorization, and Appropriations Issues, by John F. Sargent Jr.
Additional NNI information can be obtained at http://www.nano.gov.
14
For additional information on the National Nanotechnology Initiative, please contact John F. Sargent Jr., Specialist in
Science and T echnology Policy.
15 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.
16 EOP, NST C, The National Nanotechnology Initiative: Supplement to the President’s 2020 Budget, August 2019.
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Table 6. National Nanotechnology Initiative Funding, FY2019-FY2022
(budget authority, in millions of current dollars)
Total, NNI
FY2019
Estimated
FY2020
Enacted
FY2021
Request
FY2022
Request
1,858.3
1,839.7
1,723.2
n/a
Source: EOP, NSTC, The National Nanotechnology Initiative: Supplement to the President’s 2021 Budget, October
2020.
FY2022 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 FY2020 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 has acted on six of the nine appropriations bills that
provide R&D funding; the Senate has not acted on any of the appropriations acts. On October 18,
2021, the Senate Appropriations Committee majority released nine draft appropriations acts for
FY2022; the other three acts had previously been reported by committee.
In addition to this report, CRS produces individual reports on each of the appropriations bills and
for a number of federal agencies. 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 “Appropriations Status Table,” available at http://www.crs.gov/
AppropriationsStatusTable/Index.
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
- National Institutes of Health
(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
Department of Energy
Congressional Research Service
Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Department/Agency
Regular Appropriations Bill
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
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act
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 Justin Murray.
Department of Defense17
The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide “the military forces needed to deter war
and ensure our nation’s security.”18 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. This section
includes funding for budget activities 6.6 and 6.7 which OMB no longer counts as R&D.
Most of what DOD spends on RDT&E is appropriated in Title IV of the annual defense
appropriations bill. (See Table 8.) Title IV RDT&E funds support activities such as R&D
performed by academic institutions, DOD laboratories, and companies, as well as test and
evaluation activities at specialized DOD facilities, among other things.
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
17 T his section was written by John F. Sargent Jr., Specialist in Science and T echnology Policy, CRS Resources,
Science, and Industry Division.
18 Department of Defense, https://www.defense.gov/Our-Story/.
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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 appropriations bill.
For more than a decade, 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 Administrations referred to as
Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). In appropriations bills, the term Overseas Contingency
Operations/Global War on Terror (OCO/GWOT) was used. Typically, the RDT&E funds
appropriated for OCO activities were directed toward specified Program Elements (PEs) in Title
IV. President Biden’s FY2022 request does not include separate OCO/GWOT funding.
For FY2022, the Biden Administration is requesting $111.964 billion for DOD’s Title IV RDT&E
PEs, $4.509 billion (4.2%) above the estimated FY2021 level. (See Table 8.) In addition, the
FY2022 request includes $630.7 million in RDT&E through the Defense Health Program (DHP;
down $1.762 billion, 73.6% from FY2021), $1.001 billion in RDT&E through the Chemical
Agents and Munitions Destruction program (up $58.7 million, 6.2% from FY2021), and $2.4
million for the Inspector General for RDT&E-related activities (up $1.3 million, 118.2% from
FY2021). The FY2022 budget includes no RDT&E funding via the National Defense Sealift
Fund, the same as the FY2021 estimated level.
On July 13, 2021, the House Appropriations Committee reported the Department of Defense
Appropriations Act, 2022 (H.R. 4432). The act would provide $110.369 billion in Title IV
RDT&E, an increase of $2.914 billion (2.7%) over FY2021 funding and $1.595 billion (1.4%)
below the request. The act would also provide $1.839 billion for Defense Health Program R&D,
down $553.9 million (23.2%) from the FY2021 level and up $1.208 billion (191.5%) from the
request; $1,001.2 billion for the Chemical Agents and Munitions Destruction program, up $58.7
million (6.2%) from the FY2021 level and equal to the request; and $2.4 billion for the Inspector
General for RDT&E-related activities, up $1.3 (115.4%) million from the FY2021 level and
nearly the same as the request.
On October 18, 2021, the Senate Appropriations Committee majority released nine draft
appropriations acts for FY2022. One of these acts was the Department of Defense appropriations
act, which was subsequently introduced as S. 3023. The act would provide $116.152 billion in
Title IV RDT&E, an increase of $8.698 billion (8.1%) over FY2021 funding, an increase of
$4.188 billion (3.7%) over the request, and an increase of $5.784 billion (5.2%) over the House
Committee-passed level. In addition, it would provide $1.850 billion for Defense Health Program
R&D, down $543.0 million (22.7%) from the FY2021 level and up $1.219 billion (193.3%) from
the request; $1.094 billion for the Chemical Agents and Munitions Destruction program, up
$151.9 million (16.1%) from the FY2021 level and up $93.2 million (9.3%) from the request; and
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
$2.4 billion for the Inspector General for RDT&E-related activities, up $1.3 (115.4%) million
from the FY2021 level and nearly the same as the request.
RDT&E funding can be analyzed in different ways. RDT&E funding can be characterized
organizationally. Each military department requests and receives its own RDT&E funding. So,
too, do various DOD agencies (e.g., the Missile Defense Agency and the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency), collectively aggregated within the Defense-wide account. RDT&E
funding also can 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, respectively) constitute what is called DOD’s Science and Technology
(S&T) program and represent the more research-oriented part of the RDT&E 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 support for test and evaluation facilities. 19
Budget activity 6.7 supports the development of system improvements in existing operational
systems. 20 A new budget activity, 6.8, was added in the FY2021 budget and supports software and
digital technology pilot programs. 21
Many congressional policymakers are particularly interested in DOD S&T program funding,
since these funds support the development of new technologies and the science that underlies
them. 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 FY2022 request for Title IV S&T funding is $14.685 billion, $2.131 billion (12.7%) below
the FY2021 estimated level. Within the S&T program, basic research (6.1) receives special
attention, particularly by the nation’s universities, as over half of DOD’s basic research budget is
spent at universities. The Biden Administration is requesting $2.283 billion for DOD basic
research for FY2022, $342.9 million (13.1%) below the FY2021 estimated level. The proposed
FY2022 cuts in S&T are spread across a variety of program elements in the Army, Navy, and Air
Force accounts. The Army would see the largest cut in both dollars and percentage ($1.3 billion,
33%), followed by the Air Force ($560 million, 18.1%), and the Navy ($309 million, 11.6%).
Among the proposed FY2022 program element cuts are the University Research Initiatives
program elements in the Army ($18 million, 20.9%), Navy ($27 million, 18.5%), and Air Force
($34 million, 17.4%). Increases in S&T funding would be provided to the Space Force ($36
million, 16.4%) and Defense-wide accounts ($29 million, 0.4%).
H.R. 4432, as reported by the House Appropriations Committee, would provide $16.019 billion
for Defense S&T, including $2.446 billion for basic research. S. 3023, as introduced, would
provide $17.672 billion for Defense S&T, including $3.005 billion for basic research.
While DOD is not the largest federal funder of basic research, it is a substantial source of federal
funds for university R&D in certain fields, such as aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical
engineering (65%); electrical, electronic, and communications engineering (58%); industrial and
19 Beginning in FY2022, budget activity 6.6 is no longer counted as research and development funding by OMB.
20
Beginning in FY2018, budget activity 6.7 is no longer counted as research and development funding by OMB.
21 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 John F. Sargent Jr.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
manufacturing engineering (58%); mechanical engineering (49%); computer and information
sciences (48%); materials science (44%); and metallurgical and materials engineering (41%). 22
Table 8. Department of Defense RDT&E
(total obligational authority, in millions of dollars)
Budget Account
FY2021
Estimatea
FY2022
Request
FY2022
H. Cmte.
H.R. 4432
F2022
Senate
Draft
S. 3023
FY2022
Enacted
Army
14,144.9
12,799.6
13,381.4
13,467.9
Navy
20,138.4
22,639.4
20,694.7
21,546.5
Air Force
36,360.8
39,184.3
39,062.4
40,098.7
Space Force
10,540.1
11,266.4
10,774.3
11,642.6
Defense-wide
26,013.5
25,857.9
26,239.5
29,120.2
Director, Operational Test and
Evaluation
257.1
216.6
216.6
276.6
Total Title IV—By Account
107,454.8
111,964.2
110,368.8
116,152.5
6.1 Basic Research
2,625.8
2,282.9
2,445.5
3,005.4
6.2 Applied Research
6,436.3
5,508.9
5,917.3
6,531.9
6.3 Advanced Technology
Development
7,754.4
6,893.5
7,655.7
8,134.8
6.4 Advanced Component
Development and Prototypes
27,997.3
31,255.3
30,256.1
32,486.4
6.5 Systems Dev. and
Demonstration
15,748.0
15,760.8
15,121.1
14,865.0
6.6 Management Support b
7,626.8
7,387.3
7,567.9
8,719.1
6.7 Operational Systems
Development c
38,602.8
40,591.5
40,106.9
41,704.7
6.8 Software and Digital
Technology Pilot Projects
663.4
2,284.1
1,320.4
705.2
Budget Activity
Undistributed Reducions
Total Title IV—by Budget
Activity
-22.0
107,454.8
111,964.2
110,368.8
116,152.5
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
2,392.6
630.7
1,838.7
1,849.6
Title V—Revolving and
Management Funds
National Defense Sealift Fund
Title VI—Other Defense
Programs
Defense Health Program
22 CRS analysis of data from NSF, Higher Education Research and Development Survey, Fiscal Year 2019, T able 13,
January 2021, https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf21314 .
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Budget Account
Chemical Agents and Munitions
Destruction
FY2021
Estimatea
FY2022
Request
FY2022
H. Cmte.
H.R. 4432
F2022
Senate
Draft
S. 3023
FY2022
Enacted
942.5
1,001.2
1001.2
1,094.4
1.1
2.4
2.4
2.4
Grand Total, RDT&Ed
110,790.9
113,598.5
113,211.1
119,098.9
Defense S&T (6.1-6.3)
16,816.5
14,685.3
16,018.4
17,672.1
Inspector General
Source: CRS analysis of Department of Defense Budget, Fiscal Year 2022, RDT&E Programs (R ‑ 1), May 2021; H.R.
4432; and S. 3023 and explanatory statement accompanying the Senate draft bill at
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/chairman-leahy-relea ses-rema ining-nine-senateappropriations-bills.
Notes: n/a = not available. Figures for the columns currently blank may become available as action is completed.
Totals may differ from the sum of the components due to rounding. 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.
a.
Includes funding provided in Division C, Title IX and Division J, Title IV of the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260).
b.
Includes funding for Director of Test and Evaluation.
c.
Includes funding for Classified Programs.
d.
The Grand Total, RDT&E amounts for FY2021 and FY2022 include funding for budget activities 6.6 and 6.7
that OMB no longer counts as R&D. For these and other reasons, these amounts do not align with the
DOD totals in Table 1.
Department of Health and Human Services
The mission of the Department of Health and Human Services 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.”23 This section focuses on
HHS research and development funded through the National Institutes of Health, an HHS agency
that accounts for nearly 97% of total HHS R&D funding. 24 Other HHS agencies that support
R&D include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and
Administration for Children and Families (ACF); additional R&D funding is attributed to
departmental management. 25
23 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “About,” http://www.hhs.gov/about.
24 Unpublished data provided to CRS by the Office of Management and Budget. Email communication, May 28, 2021.
25 Ibid.
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National Institutes of Health26
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.”27 The agency consists of the NIH Office of the
Director (OD) and 27 institutes and centers (ICs), 25 of which manage research programs. Each
IC plans and manages its own research programs in coordination with OD. According to NIH,
about 10% of the NIH budget supports intramural research projects conducted by the nearly 6,000
NIH federal scientists, most of whom are located on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. All 25
research ICs have an intramural research program of varying sizes. More than 80% of NIH’s
budget goes 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. 28
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. 29 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 Public Health Service Act (PHSA) Section 330B, for the Special
Diabetes Program for type 1 diabetes, most recently extended through FY2023 with an annual
funding level of $150 million by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260;
Division BB, Title III). As shown in Table 9, separate appropriations are provided to 24 of the 27
ICs, as well as to OD, the Innovation Account (established by the 21 st Century Cures Act in 2016,
P.L. 114-255), and an intramural Buildings and Facilities account. The other three centers, which
perform centralized support services, are funded through transfers from the other ICs. Some
funding is also pursuant to the PHS Evaluation Set-Aside, also known as the PHS Evaluation Tap
transfer authority, under Section 241 of the PHS Act (42 U.S.C. §238j). This provision allows the
Secretary of HHS, with the approval of appropriators, to redistribute a portion of eligible PHS
agency appropriations across HHS for program evaluation purposes.30 Although the PHS Act
limits the tap to no more than 1% of eligible appropriations, in recent years, annual LHHS
26 T his section was written by Kavya Sekar, Analyst in Health Policy, CRS Domestic Social Policy Division, with
support from Isaac Nicchitta, Research Assistant, 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
Judith A. Johnson and Kavya Sekar.
HHS, National Institutes of Health, “About NIH, What We Do, Mission and Goals,” http://www.nih.gov/about-nih/
what-we-do/mission-goals.
27
28 NIH, “What We Do: Budget,” https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/budget.
29 T he Superfund program was created to carry out the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA; P.L. 96-510), which authorized the federal government to prioritize contaminated
sites in the United States for cleanup in coordination with the states in which the sites are located and to make the
“ potentially responsible parties” connected to those sites financially liable for the cleanup costs. T he Superfund
program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. For more information on the Superfund program,
see CRS Report R41039, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: A Summary of
Superfund Cleanup Authorities and Related Provisions of the Act, by David M. Bearden.
30 For more information on the PHS evaluation tap, or PHS Evaluation Set -Aside, see discussion in CRS Report
R44916, Public Health Service Agencies: Overview and Funding (FY2016 -FY2018), coordinated by C. Stephen
Redhead and Agata Dabrowska.
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appropriations acts have specified a higher amount (2.5% in FY2021, P.L. 116-260, Division
H). 31 Those acts also have typically directed specific amounts of funding from the tap for transfer
to a number of HHS programs, including at NIH—particularly for the National Institute of
General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). Readers should note that funding amounts in this report
show amounts “transferred in” to NIH under the PHS evaluation set-aside, but do not show
amounts “transferred out” under the same authority.
NIH also receives funding through LHHS appropriations that is subject to different budget
enforcement rules than the rest of the NIH funding in the act—appropriations to the NIH
Innovation Account created by the 21st Century Cures Act (“the Cures Act,” P.L. 114-255) to fund
programs authorized by that act. Appropriations of funds in this account are, in effect, not subject
to discretionary spending limits. 32 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. All amounts
authorized by the Cures Act have been fully appropriated to the Innovation Account since
FY2017, including $404 million for FY2021. For FY2022, $496 million is authorized to be
appropriated. 33
On December 27, 2020, Congress and the President enacted the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2021 (P.L. 116-260), which included final FY2021 LHHS appropriations in Division H,
Interior/Environment appropriations in Division G, and full year mandatory type 1 diabetes
funding in Division BB. The enacted FY2021 NIH program level is $43.084 billion and is made
up of the following:34
$41.356 billion in discretionary LHHS budget authority (nontransfer);
$1.272 billion pursuant to the PHS program evaluation transfer and a $225
million transfer from the HHS nonrecurring expenses fund (NEF; this amount is
not reflected in the program level total shown above); 35
$81.5 million for the Superfund research program and related activities from
Interior/Environment appropriations; and
$150 million in annual funding for the mandatory type 1 diabetes research
program.
31 Specifically, P.L. 116-260, Division H, T itle II, Section 204.
32
See section on 21 st Century Cures Act in CRS Report R41705, The National Institutes of Health (NIH): Background
and Congressional Issues.
33 P.L. 114-255, Section 1001.
34
T his report uses numbers from U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Report Accompanying
Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 117 th Cong.,
July 19, 2021, H.Rept. 117-96 as amended by H.R. 2502 passed by the House on July 29, 2021. In some cases, there
are discrepancies between the numbers in H.Rept. 117-96 and the FY2021 and FY2022 amounts as enacted in P.L.
116-260, Division H and in NIH FY2022 budget request documents.
35 T he nonrecurring expenses fund (NEF) permits HHS to transfer unobligated balances of expired discretionary funds
from FY2008 and subsequent years into the NEF account. T he uses of funds include capital acquisitions such as
information technology (IT) and facilities infrastructure (42 U.S.C. §3514a). Congress may direct uses of NEF in
appropriations laws.
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President Biden’s FY2022 budget request proposes that NIH be provided with a total program
level of $51.883 billion, an increase of $8.799 billion (+20%) from FY2021-enacted levels. The
proposed FY2022 program level would be made up of 36
$50.378 billion in discretionary LHHS budget authority (nontransfer);
$1.272 billion pursuant to the PHS program evaluation transfer;
$83.5 million for the Superfund research program and related activities from
Interior/Environment appropriations; and
$150 million in annual funding for the mandatory type 1 diabetes research
program. 37
Under the President’s FY2022 request, all existing IC accounts would receive an increase
compared to FY2021 funding levels, except for the OD, which would receive a decrease of $174
million (-7%). In addition, the full amount ($496 million) authorized by the Cures Act for
FY2022 would be appropriated to the Innovation Account. The Buildings and Facilities (B&F)
account would receive an increase of $50 million (+25%) in LHHS discretionary budget
authority, but an overall decrease of $175 million (-41%) when accounting for the additional NEF
transfer of $225 million directed to the B&F account in FY2021 appropriations. 38
The FY2022 budget request also proposes the creation of an Advanced Research Projects Agency
for Health (ARPA-H) within NIH. The budget request includes $6.5 billion for ARPA-H “to build
platforms and capabilities to deliver cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and other
diseases.”39 The $6.5 billion for ARPA-H would account for 74% of the FY2022 budget request’s
$8.799 billion increase from FY2021 enacted levels. The creation of a new NIH component may
require amendments to the PHSA, especially Section 401(d), which specifies that “[i]n the
National Institutes of Health, the number of national research institutes and national centers may
not exceed a total of 27.” Further information on the ARPA-H proposal is provided below.
36
NIH, Congressional Justification: FY2022, May 28, 2021, pp. 89-91, at https://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY22/
br/2022%20CJ%20Overview%20Volume%20May%2028.pdf .
37 T he FY2022 NIH budget request shows sequestration of $8.55 million for the $150 million in mandatory
appropriations for FY2022. See “Budget Mechanism T able,” p. 92 in https://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY22/br/
2022%20CJ%20Overview%20Supplementary%20Tables.pdf.
38 Accounting for the directed NEF transfer, the Buildings and Facilities account has a total FY2021 funding level of
$425 million.
39 NIH, Congressional Justification: FY2022, May 28, 2021, p . 10, at https://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY22/br/
2022%20CJ%20Overview%20Volume%20May%2028.pdf.
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Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) in the
FY2022 Budget Request
The budget request includes $6.5 billion for a new Advanced Research P rojects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) “to
build platforms and capabilities to deliver cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and other diseases.”
Funding was requested for a period of three years to “allow for both scale-up in FY 2022 and redeployment of
resources in the next two years if projects fail to meet performance milestones.” The vast majority of funding
would support extramural research, with a small amount of funding reserved for staffing and administrative
functions. Unlike extant NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs), ARPA-H would not have its own intramural research
program.
ARPA-H would be modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and would have
several “DARPA model” characteristics, including a flat and nimble organizational structure, tenure-limited
program managers with a high degree of autonomy to select and fund projects, and a milestone-based contract
approach. While this organizational structure would be “operationally unique” from NIH ICs, ARPA-H would still
coordinate research and activities with NIH ICs and other HHS agencies.
The FY2022 budget request describes four broad project areas that ARPA-H would fund:
tackling bold challenges requiring large scale, sustained, cross-sector coordination;
creating new capabilities (e.g., technologies, data resources, disease models);
supporting high-risk exploration that could establish entirely new paradigms; and
overcoming market failures through critical solutions, including financial incentives.
Most ARPA-H awards would be given to industry, universities, and nonprofit research institutions, and could
involve some agreements with other federal agencies. ARPA-H would make use of some of NIH’s flexible hiring
and funding authorities, such as its Other Transaction Authority mechanisms. 40
For further information and analysis regarding ARPA-H, see CRS Report R46901, Advanced Research Projects Agency
for Health (ARPA-H): Potential Questions for Consideration, by Kavya Sekar and Marcy E. Gallo.
In July 2021, the House passed a consolidated appropriations bill, H.R. 4502, with proposed
FY2022 funding levels for NIH accounts in Division A (LHHS appropriations) and Division E
(Interior/Environment appropriations). House-passed appropriations would provide NIH with a
FY2022 estimated program level of $49.587 billion, an increase of $6.503 billion (+15%) from
FY2021-enacted levels and a decrease of $2.296 billion (-4%) from the FY2022 budget request.
The House-proposed FY2022 program level includes the following amounts:41
$48.082 billion in discretionary LHHS budget authority (nontransfer);
$1.272 billion pursuant to the PHS program evaluation transfer;
$83.5 million for the Superfund research program and related activities from
Interior/Environment appropriations; and
$150 million in annual funding for the mandatory type 1 diabetes research
program.
House-passed appropriations would provide increases to all existing IC accounts compared to
FY2021 funding levels. Compared to the FY2022 budget request, House-passed appropriations
would provide increases to all existing IC accounts except for the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development (-$252 million) and the National Institute of Arthritis and
Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (-$1 million). The House also included $3.0 billion for
40
NIH, Congressional Justification: FY2022, May 28, 2021, pp. 10-11, at https://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY22/
br/2022%20CJ%20Overview%20Volume%20May%2028.pdf and HHS, “FY2022 Budget in Brief,” pp. 59-60, at
https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/fy-2022-budget-in-brief.pdf.
41 H.Rept. 117-96, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Bill, 2022, July 19, 2021, pp. 475 -477, at https://www.congress.gov/117/crpt/hrpt96/CRPT117hrpt96.pdf.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
ARPA-H available through September 30, 2024, a decrease of $3.5 billion (-54%) compared to
the FY2022 budget request, and provided that funding would only be available if legislation
specifically establishing ARPA-H is enacted into law.
On October 18, 2021, the chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Patrick
Leahy, released drafts of nine annual appropriations bills along with draft accompanying
explanatory statements. According to the chair, the purpose of this release is to further
negotiations toward enacting all 12 annual appropriations bills prior to when the CR expires on
December 3. 42 Proposed funding levels for NIH accounts were located in the LHHS and
Interior/Environment bills. 43 The Senate Appropriations Committee majority draft bill would
provide NIH with a FY2022 estimated program level of $48.073 billion, an increase of $4.99
billion (+12%) from FY2021-enacted levels and a decrease of $3.81 billion (-7%) from the
FY2022 budget request. The Senate Appropriations Committee majority draft bill FY2022
program level includes the following amounts:44
$46.624 billion in discretionary LHHS budget authority (nontransfer);
$1.215 billion pursuant to the PHS program evaluation transfer;
$84.5 million for the Superfund research program and related activities from
Interior/Environment appropriations; and
$150 million in annual funding for the mandatory type 1 diabetes research
program.
The Senate Appropriations Committee majority draft bill would provide increases to all existing
IC accounts compared to FY2021 funding levels. Compared to the FY2022 budget request, the
Senate Appropriations Committee majority draft bill would provide decreases to 16 IC accounts
and increases to 9 accounts and the Office of the Director. Notable decreases compared to the
budget request include the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (-$263
million), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (-$20 million), and the National Institute of
Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (-$5 million). Notable increases include the
Office of the Director (+$301 million), the National Institute on Aging (+$145 million), and the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (+$97 million). The Senate Appropriations
Committee majority draft bill also included $2.4 billion for ARPA-H available through September
30, 2024, a decrease of $4.1 billion (-63%) compared to the FY2022 budget request, and provided
that funding would only be available if legislation specifically establishing ARPA-H is enacted
into law.
42
T he text of the Senate majority draft LHHS bill and accompanying committee report is linked to the press release,
“Chairman Leahy Releases Remaining Nine Senate Appropriations Bills,” October 18, 2021,
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/chairman-leahy-releases-remaining-nine-senate-appropriationsbills. See also “ Shelby: Democrats’ Partisan Bills T hreaten FY22 Appropriations Process,” October 18, 2021,
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/shelby-democrats-partisan-bills-threaten-fy22-appropriations-process.
43 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations majority staff, “ Chairman Leahy Releases Remaining Nine
Senate Appropriations Bills,” press release, October 18, 2021, at https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/
chairman-leahy-releases-remaining-nine-senate-appropriations-bills.
44 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Departments of Labor, Health and Human
Services, and Education, and Related Agencies, Explanatory Statement for Labor, Health and Human Services,
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2022, Summary of Budget Estimates and Committee
Recommendations, 117 th Cong., October 18, 2021, pp. 348-349 and U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on
Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, Explanatory
Statement for the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2022, Summary
of Bill, 117 th Cong., October 18, 2021, p. 228.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Table 9. National Institutes of Health Funding
(budget authority, in millions of dollars)
FY2021
Enacted
FY2022
Request
FY2022
House
FY2022
S. Drafte
Cancer Institute (NCI)
6,560
6,733
6,994
6,772
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
3,665
3,846
3,867
3,842
Dental/Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
485
516
519
516
Diabetes/Digestive/Kidney (NIDDK) b
2,132
2,219
2,239
2,217
Neurological Disorders/Stroke (NINDS)
2,513
2,783
2,800
2,786
Allergy/Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
6,070
6,246
6,558
6,343
General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) c
1,720
1,825
1,868
1,853
Child Health/Human Development
(NICHD)
1,590
1,942
1,690
1,679
National Eye Institute (NEI)
836
859
877
858
Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) d
733
854
858
852
3,899
4,036
4,258
4,181
Arthritis/Musculoskeletal/Skin Diseases
(NIAMS)
634
680
679
675
Deafness/Communication Disorders
(NIDCD)
498
512
523
511
National Institute of Mental Health
(NIMH)
2,104
2,214
2,223
2,219
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
1,480
1,853
1,860
1,833
Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism (NIAAA)
555
570
582
570
Nursing Research (NINR)
175
200
201
200
Human Genome Research Institute
(NHGRI)
616
633
646
635
Biomedical Imaging/Bioengineering (NIBIB)
411
422
431
422
Minority Health/Health Disparities
(NIMHD)
391
652
662
651
Complementary/Integrative Health
(NCCIH)
154
184
185
184
Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
855
879
898
878
Fogarty International Center (FIC)
84
96
97
96
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
464
475
487
476
2,424
2,250
2,680
2,551
Innovation Account f
109
150
150
150
Buildings and Facilities (B&F) g
200
250
250
275
Advanced Research Projects Agency for
Health (ARPA-H)
—
6,500
3,000
2,400
41,356
50,378
48,082
46,624
Institutes/Centers
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Office of Director (OD) e
Subtotal, NIH (LHHS
Discretionary BA)
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Final
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
FY2021
Enacted
FY2022
Request
FY2022
House
FY2022
S. Drafte
PHS Program Evaluation (provided to
NIGMS)
1,272
1,272
1,272
1,215
Superfund (Interior approp. to NIEHS) h
82
84
84
85
Nonrecurring Expenses Fund (NEF)
Transfer (to Buildings and Facilities) i
225
—
—
—
Mandatory type 1 diabetes funds (to
NIDDK) j
150
150 k
150
150
43,084
51,883
49,587
48,073
Institutes/Centers
NIH Program Level
FY2022
Final
Sources: FY2021 Enacted, FY2022 Budget Request, and FY2022 House is from U.S. Congress, House
Committee on Appropriations, Report Accompanying Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education,
and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 117 th Congress, July 19, 2021, H.Rept. 117-96. The FY2022 House
numbers incorporate the budgetary effects of the amendments to H.R. 2502 that were adopted by the House on
July 29, 2021. FY2022 Senate Majority is from the majority draft bills, majority draft explanatory statements, and
majority bill summaries for Senate LHHS and Interior/Environment Subcommittees, linked a t
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/chairman-leahy-relea ses-rema ining-nine-senateappropriations-bills; and Summary of Budget Estimates and Committee Recommendations, 117 th Congress,
October 18, 2021, pp. 348-349; except where noted below.
Notes: Totals may differ from the sum of the components due to rounding. Figures for the columns currently
blank may become available as action is completed. 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 to the evaluation tap from
the agencies’ appropriation. In general, amounts provided to NIH for emergency requirements are excluded
from these totals (e.g., the FY2021 column does not include the amounts provided for COVID response in
Division M of P.L. 116-260).
a.
The LHHS and Interior/Environment appropriations bills have not been reported by the Senate
Appropriations Committee, but were released by the Senate Majority Leader as a basis for discussions and
negotiation with the House (see the press release, “Chairman Leahy Releases Remaining Nine Senate
Appropriations Bills,” October 18, 2021, https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/chairmanleahy-releases-remaining-nine-senate-appropriations-bills. See also “Shelby: Democrats’ Partisan Bills
Threaten FY22 Appropriations Process,” October 18, 2021, https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/
shelby-democrats-partisan-bills-threaten-fy22-appropriations-process.)
b.
Amounts for the NIDDK do not include mandatory funding for type 1 diabetes research (see note i).
c.
d.
Amounts for NIGMS do not include funds from PHS Evaluation Set-Aside (§241 of the PHS Act).
Amounts for NIEHS do not include Interior/Environment Appropriations amount for Superfund research
(see note g).
e.
Includes $12.6 million transfer from the Pediatric Research Initiative Fund (PRIF) as auth orized by the
Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act.
f.
The amount shown for the NIH Innovation Account in each column represents only a portion of the total
appropriation to the account ($404 million for the FY2021; $496 million for FY2022). The remainin g funds
for this account are reflected, where applicable, in the totals for other ICs. For FY2022, this includes $194
to NCI for cancer research and $76 million to each of NINDS and NIMH for the BRAIN Initiative ($152
million total).
g.
FY2021 amount for Buildings and Facilities does not reflect directed nonrecurring expenses fund transfer in
FY2021 appropriations. See note h.
h.
This is a separate account in the Interior/Environment appropriations for National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) research activities related to Superfund research.
i.
The nonrecurring expenses fund permits HHS to transfer unobligated balances of expired discretionary
funds from FY2008 and subsequent years into the NEF account. Congress and the President authorized use
of the funds for capital acquisitions including information technology (IT) and facilities infrastructure (42
U.S.C. §3514a). Recent LHHS appropriations, including FY2021 appropriations, have directed that specific
NEF funding amounts be transferred to the NIH Buildings and Facilities account.
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j.
Mandatory funds are available to NIDDK for type 1 diabetes research under PHSA Sec. 330B, which was
most recently extended through FY2023 by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 ( P.L. 116-260,
Division BB, Title III).
k.
FY2022 budget request documents show the FY2022 amount for the type I diabetes research program
($141 million) as lower than enacted funding level for FY2022 ($150 million). According to the budget
request, the FY2022 amount reflects sequestration of $8.55 million. See “Budget Mechanism Table,” p. 92 in
https://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY22/br/2022%20CJ%20Overview%20Supplementary%20Tables.pdf.
Department of Energy45
The Department of Energy 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,
particularly 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 FY2022 budget request for DOE includes about $20.518 billion for R&D
and related activities, including programs in three broad categories: science, national security, and
energy. This request is about 16.1% more than the comparable enacted FY2021 amount of
$17.677 billion. The House bill would provide about $19.376 billion. The Senate bill would
provide about $19.574 billion. (See Table 10 for details.)
The request for the DOE Office of Science is $7.440 billion, an increase of 5.9% from the
FY2021 appropriation of $7.026 billion. Funding would increase for all six of the office’s major
research programs. In the largest program, Basic Energy Sciences, requested increases of $109
million for research and $30 million for operations and equipment at scientific user facilities
would be partially offset by a requested decrease of $85 million for facility construction. In
Biological and Environmental Research, funding for the Earth and Environmental Systems
Sciences subprogram would increase by $71 million (20.3%), with a focus on Earth system
modeling. In Fusion Energy Sciences, the U.S. contribution to construction of the International
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a fusion energy demonstration and research facility
in France, would be $221 million (down from $242 million in FY2021). Following a
reorganization of the Office of Science in FY2020, a new program in Isotope R&D and
Production ($90 million requested) would support activities previously funded in Nuclear Physics
($75 million in FY2021), while a new program in Accelerator R&D and Production ($24 million
requested) would support activities previously funded in High Energy Physics ($17 million in
FY2021).
The House bill would provide $7.320 billion for the Office of Science, while the Senate bill
would provide $7.490 billion. In the House bill, the High Energy Physics and Fusion Energy
Sciences programs would receive more than requested, while the other major programs would
receive less (although all but Nuclear Physics would receive more than in FY2021). In the Senate
bill, all but one of the major programs would receive the requested amount or more, while Fusion
Energy Sciences would receive less. Within Fusion Energy Sciences, the U.S. contribution to
ITER would be $242 million in the House bill and the requested amount in the Senate bill.
45 T his section was written by Daniel Morgan, Specialist in Science and T echnology Policy, CRS Resources, Science,
and Industry Division.
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The request for DOE national security R&D is $5.252 billion, an increase of 1.5% from $5.175
billion in FY2021. In the Weapons Activities account, funding for Stockpile Research,
Technology, and Engineering would decrease by 4.4%. The bulk of this decrease would be for
Assessment Science ($690 million, down from $769 million in FY2021) and Inertial
Confinement Fusion ($529 million, down from $575 million in FY2021). Funding for Naval
Reactors would increase by $177 million (10.5%), including increases for operations and
infrastructure (up $63 million), development (up $73 million) and construction (up $61 million).
The House bill would provide $5.398 billion for national security R&D, while the Senate bill
would provide $5.339 billion. In Weapons Activities, both bills would provide the FY2021
amount for Assessment Science and $5 million more than the FY2021 amount for Inertial
Confinement Fusion. Naval Reactors would receive $6 million (0.3%) more than the
Administration request in the House bill and $20 million (1%) less than the request in the Senate
bill. Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation R&D would receive $43 million (6.3%) more than the
request in the House bill and the requested amount in the Senate bill.
The request for DOE energy R&D is $7.826 billion, an increase of 42.9% from $5.477 billion in
FY2021. Funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy R&D would increase by 57.9%,
with increases in all major research areas and a priority on reducing emissions in the near term (in
contrast to Trump Administration budgets, which proposed a focus on early-stage R&D). An
18.7% increase for the Fossil Energy and Carbon Management account (formerly Fossil Energy
R&D) would be focused on climate-centric activities such as carbon capture, utilization, and
storage (up $117 million, 62.0%) and environmental- and emissions-related natural gas
technologies (up $73 million, 128.1%). Funding for nuclear energy R&D would increase by $343
million (22.7%), including increases of $120 million (48.1%) for advanced reactor demonstration
and $100 million (222.2%) for the Versatile Test Reactor project. 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 receive $500 million (up 17.1%), while a proposed new Advanced
Research Projects Agency–Climate (ARPA-C) would receive $200 million.
The House bill would provide $6.658 billion for energy R&D, while the Senate bill would
provide $6.745 billion. In both bills, most programs in this category would receive more than in
FY2021 but less than the Administration request for FY2022. In Nuclear Energy, neither bill
would fund the Versatile Test Reactor project. ARPA-E would receive $100 million (20.0%) more
than the request in the House bill and the requested amount in the Senate bill. ARPA-C, however,
would not be funded in either bill. The House committee report directs DOE to fund the work
proposed for ARPA-C through ARPA-E. The Senate committee report notes that establishing
ARPA-C would require legislation and “encourages ARPA-E to consider proposed activities
under ARPA-C that are consistent with ARPA-E’s mission and authorization.”
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Table 10. Department of Energy R&D and Related Activities
(budget authority, in millions of dollars)
FY2021
Enacted
FY2022
Request
FY2022
House
FY2022
S. Cmte.
7,026
7,440
7,320
7,490
Basic Energy Sciences
2,245
2,300
2,293
2,323
High Energy Physics
1,046
1,061
1,078
1,079
Biological and Environmental Research
753
828
805
828
Nuclear Physics
713
720
665
744
1,015
1,040
1,025
1,040
Fusion Energy Sciences
672
675
698
660
Isotope R&D and Production
—
90
82
90
Accelerator R&D and Production
—
24
18
24
Other
582
702
656
702
5,175
5,252
5,398
5,339
Weapons Activities Stockpile RT&E
2,814
2,691
2,788
2,793
Naval Reactors
1,684
1,861
1,867
1,841
Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation R&Da
642
673
715
673
Def. Environmental Cleanup Technol. Devel.
35
28
28
33
Science
Advanced Scientific Computing Research
National Security
Energy
5,477
7,826
6,658
6,745
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy b
2,484
3,924
3,188
3,389
Fossil Energy and Carbon Management c
750
890
816
850
1,508
1,851
1,675
1,591
Electricity
212
327
267
303
Cybersec., En. Secy., and Emerg. Respon. R&D
96
135
112
112
Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy
427
500
600
500
Advanced Research Projects Agency–Climate
—
200
0
0
17,677
20,518
19,376
19,574
Nuclear Energy
DOE, Total
FY2022
Enacted
Sources: FY2021 enacted from P.L. 116-260 and explanatory statement, Congressional Record, December 21,
2020, Book IV. FY2022 request from DOE FY2022 congressional budget justification, https://www.energy.gov/
cfo/articles/fy-2022-budget-justification. FY2022 House from H.R. 4502 as passed by the House and H.Rept. 11798 (on H.R. 4549). FY2022 Senate committee from S. 2605 as reported and S.Rept. 117-36.
Notes: Totals may differ from the sum of the components due to rounding. Figures for the columns currently
blank may become available as action is completed.
a. Including National Technical Nuclear Forensics R&D.
b.
Excluding Weatherization and Intergovernmental Activities.
c.
Fossil Energy R&D in FY2021.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
National Aeronautics and Space Administration46
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration 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.
The Administration has requested about $21.751 billion for NASA R&D in FY2022. This would
be 7.0% more than the FY2021 level of about $20.324 billion. The House bill would provide
about $21.996 billion. The Senate draft bill would provide about $21.789 billion. For a
breakdown of these amounts, see Table 11. NASA R&D funding comes through five accounts:
Science; Aeronautics; Space Technology; Exploration (called Deep Space Exploration Systems in
the Administration’s budget request); and the ISS, Commercial Crew, and Commercial Low Earth
Orbit (LEO) Development portions of Space Operations.
The OMB figures presented in Table 1 indicate a substantially smaller amount for NASA R&D
than the figures presented in this section. To allow consistent tracking as Congress acts on
FY2022 appropriations legislation, this section treats the entirety of the Exploration account as
R&D. As systems being developed under that account move from R&D to testing and ultimately
operations, the share of the account spent on R&D has decreased. OMB considers about half of
the Exploration account to be non-R&D.
The FY2022 request for Science is $7.931 billion, an increase of 8.6% from FY2021. The request
for Earth Science includes funding for the Pre-Aerosol, Clouds, and Ocean Ecosystem (PACE)
and Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder missions
($119 million and $19 million, respectively). It also includes funding to initiate the development
of a system of future satellites known as the Earth System Observatory. The request for
Astrophysics includes $502 million for the Roman Space Telescope (formerly the Wide Field
Infrared Space Telescope, WFIRST) but no funds for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA, $85 million in FY2021). PACE, CLARREO Pathfinder, WFIRST, and
SOFIA were all proposed for termination in previous budgets. A requested reduction in funding
for the James Webb Space Telescope in FY2022 reflects that mission’s planned launch in
November 2021. The Planetary Science request includes $653 million (up from $246 million in
FY2021) for a Mars sample return mission and $472 million (up from $435 million in FY2021)
for a mission to orbit Jupiter’s moon Europa.
The House bill would provide $38 million more than the request for Science, while the draft
Senate bill would provide $30 million less. Both bills would provide the requested funding for
PACE, CLARREO Pathfinder, and the Roman Space Telescope. The House bill would fund
SOFIA at the FY2021 level; the draft Senate bill does not mention SOFIA. In Planetary Science,
the House bill would provide $35 million more than the request for a Mars sample return mission
and the requested amount for a Europa mission, with guidance as in past years regarding the
launch vehicle for the Europa mission. The draft Senate bill would provide the requested amount
for Mars sample return and does not mention Europa.
The FY2022 request for Aeronautics is $915 million, an increase of 10.4% from $829 million in
FY2021. The budget proposes to initiate a Sustainable Flight National Partnership, including the
46 T his section was written by Daniel Morgan, Specialist in Science and T echnology Policy, CRS Resources, Science,
and Industry Division.
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development of a full-scale demonstrator aircraft with an electrified powertrain ($91 million in
FY2022). The House bill would provide $935 million, including $10 million more than the
request for hypersonics technology and $10 million more than the request for the Integrated
Aviation Systems Program. The draft Senate bill would provide $940 million, including $7
million more than the request for university-led aeronautics materials research and $32 million
for the High-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project.
The FY2022 request for Space Technology is $1.425 billion, an increase of 29.5% from $1.100
billion in FY2021. The bulk of the requested increase would be for the Technology Maturation
program ($491 million, up from $227 million). No funds are requested for nuclear propulsion, but
the request for Technology Demonstration includes $34 million for nuclear surface power
systems for the Moon and Mars. The combined RESTORE/SPIDER mission to demonstrate inspace satellite servicing and robotic manufacturing (also known as On-orbit Servicing, Assembly,
and Manufacturing 1, or OSAM-1) would receive $227 million, the same as in FY2021. In recent
years, appropriations report language has directed NASA to focus Space Technology on broad
technology goals that can serve all of NASA, not just its human exploration activities. The
FY2022 budget justification states, “The Space Technology portfolio is broadening to develop
technologies that can benefit other NASA Directorates, the commercial space sector and other
government agencies, as appropriate.” The House bill would provide $1.280 billion, while the
draft Senate bill would provide $1.250 billion. Both bills would provide $110 million, the
FY2021 amount, for nuclear thermal propulsion, and the requested amount for OSAM-1. The
House committee report “reaffirms [the committee’s] support for the independence of the Space
Technology Mission Directorate” and “directs NASA to preserve the Directorate’s focus across
NASA and in support of each of the mission directorates.”
The FY2022 request for Deep Space Exploration Systems (currently Exploration) is $6.880
billion, an increase of 5.6% from $6.517 in FY2021. Within this account, the request for
Exploration Systems Development includes $1.407 billion for the Orion crew capsule (up from
$1.404 billion in FY2021) and $2.487 billion for the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket
(SLS, down from $2.561 billion). The proposed 21.5% increase for Exploration R&D reflects a
request for $1.195 billion (up from $928 million) for development of a Human Landing System
(HLS) for lunar exploration. NASA’s decision to award a single HLS contract on the grounds of
limited funding was protested by the unselected vendors and remains controversial in Congress.
NASA has suggested that additional funds (beyond those requested in the budget) might be
needed to enable selection of a second HLS contractor.
The House bill would provide $399 million more than the request for Exploration, including
increases of $149 million for the Space Launch System, $100 million for Exploration Ground
Systems, and $150 million for the HLS. Regarding HLS, the House committee report “urges
NASA to bolster competition in lander development and production.” The draft Senate bill would
provide $80 million more than the request for Exploration, including increases of $20 million for
Orion, $100 million for Exploration Ground Systems, and $100 million for the HLS. At NASA’s
request, subsequent to the original budget request, the draft Senate bill would also fund the
Human Research Program ($130 million) in the Space Operations account rather than in
Exploration. Regarding HLS, the draft Senate report calls on NASA to “ensure redundancy and
competition, including robust support for ... no fewer than two HLS teams.” It also criticizes
“NASA’s rhetoric of blaming Congress and this Committee for the lack of resources needed to
support two HLS teams.”
In the Space Operations account, the request includes $1.328 billion for the ISS in FY2022 (up
from $1.322 in FY2021); $155 million for the Commercial Crew program (down from $300
million); and $101 million for Commercial LEO Development (up from $17 million).
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Commercial crew activities are transitioning from development to operations (which is funded
separately). SpaceX launched its first post-certification crewed flight to the ISS in November
2020; certification of Boeing’s competing commercial crew system is anticipated in 2022. The
Commercial LEO Development program, intended to stimulate a commercial space economy in
low Earth orbit, was initiated in the FY2019 budget. The Trump Administration requested $150
million for it each year from then through FY2021; Congress has so far appropriated a total of
$72 million. The House and Senate committee reports do not specify how much of their
recommended Space Operations funding should be allocated to the ISS or Commercial Crew. The
House bill would provide $45 million for Commercial LEO Development, while the draft Senate
bill would provide the requested $101 million.
Table 11. National Aeronautics and Space Administration R&D
(budget authority, in millions of dollars)
FY2021
Op. Plan
FY2022
Request
FY2022
H. Cmte.
FY2022
S. Draft
Science
7,301
7,931
7,970
7,901
Earth Science
2,000
2,250
2,250
2,230
Planetary Science
2,700
3,200
3,235
3,161
Astrophysics
1,356
1,400
1,446
1,400
James Webb Space Telescope
415
175
175
175
Heliophysics
751
797
773
826
Biological and Physical Sciences
79
109
90
109
Aeronautics
829
915
935
940
Space Technology
1,100
1,425
1,280
1,250
Exploration / Deep Space Expl. Systems
6,517
6,880
7,279
6,960
Exploration Systems Development
4,545
4,484
4,733
4,604
Exploration R&D
1,973
2,397
2,547
2,357
Space Operations a
1,638
1,583
n/s
n/s
International Space Station
1,322
1,328
n/s
n/s
Commercial Crew
300
155
n/s
n/s
Commercial LEO Development
17
101
45
101
18,758e
Subtotal R&D
17,385
18,735
18,991e
Non-R&D Programsc
2,521
2,627
2,627 e
2,615 e
Safety, Security, and Mission Services
2,937
3,049
3,030
3,064
Associated with R&D d
2,565
2,674
2,662
2,689
Construction & Environmental C&R
429
390
390
390
Associated with R&D d
374
342
343
343
NASA, Total (R&D)
20,324
21,751
21,996e
21,789e
NASA, Total
23,271
24,801
25,038
24,827
FY2022
Enacted
—e
Sources: FY2021 operating plan and FY2022 request from NASA FY2022 congressional budget justification,
http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/. FY2022 House committee from H.R. 4505 as reported and H.Rept. 117-97.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
FY2022 Senate draft from draft bill and report released by the Senate Appropriations Committee on October
18, 2021.
Notes: FY2021 operating plan amounts reflect enacted appropriations adjusted for transfers and
reprogramming. Totals may differ from the sum of the components due to rounding. n/s = not specified. LEO =
Low Earth Orbit. C&R = Compliance and Remediation. Figures for the columns currently blank may become
available as action is completed.
a. Excluding non-R&D activities: Space and Flight Support and Space Transportation other than Commercial
Crew.
b. Includes CRS estimate of unspecified amounts in Space Operations in order to allow calculation of a total.
c.
Non-R&D activities in Space Operations (see note a); STEM Engagement; and Inspector General.
d.
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.
e.
Not shown in table: supplemental $321 million for hurricane repairs provided in P.L. 117-43.
National Science Foundation47
The National Science Foundation supports basic research and education in the nonmedical
sciences and engineering. Congress established the foundation as an independent federal agency
in 1950 to “promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and
welfare; to secure the national defense; and for other purposes.”48 The NSF is a major source of
federal support for U.S. university research, especially in the social sciences, 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.
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
be included in appropriations acts, or accompanying conference reports or explanatory
statements.
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 over 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. 49 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
FY2021 enacted (or estimated, for subaccount and R&D amounts as noted) and FY2022
requested levels are reported by account, including amounts for R&D conduct and physical assets
where applicable, in Table 12.
47 T his section was written by Laurie Harris, Analyst in Science and T echnology Policy, CRS Resources, Science, and
Industry Division.
48
T he National Science Foundation Act of 1950 (P.L. 81 -507).
49 R&D actual (FY2020), estimated (FY2021), and requested (FY2022) amounts are reported in the “Quantitative Data
T ables” section of the NSF FY2022 Budget Request to Congress, May 28, 2021, pp. QDT -1 – QDT -7.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Funding for NSF for FY2021 was enacted on December 27, 2020.50 Additionally, NSF received
$600 million in supplemental two-year appropriations in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
(P.L. 117-2) “to fund or extend new and existing research grants, cooperative agreements,
scholarships, fellowships, and apprenticeships, and related administrative expenses to prevent,
prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.”51 Funding details below the account level were not
available at the time the FY2022 budget request was prepared. Therefore, at the account level, the
FY2022 request amounts are compared to the FY2021 enacted amounts in this analysis; below
the account level, the FY2022 request amounts are compared to FY2021 estimated amounts for
subaccounts and R&D amounts. FY2021 enacted/estimated and FY2022 requested amounts are
reported by account and for R&D conduct and facilities and equipment in Table 12.
Overall. The Administration is requesting $10.2 billion for the NSF in FY2022, $1.68 billion
(19.8%) more than the FY2021 enacted amount. The request would increase budget authority in
all three of the R&D accounts relative to the FY2021 enacted level: RRA by $1.23 billion
(17.8%), EHR by $319 million (33.0%), and MREFC by $8.0 million (3.3%). Overall, NSF
estimates that, under the FY2022 request, agency-wide funding rates for competitive awards (i.e.,
the percentage of submitted proposals that are successfully awarded funding after competitive
review) would increase slightly from 27% to 29%, with an estimated 13,800 awards.
For FY2022, $8.17 billion is requested for R&D activities, a $1.29 billion increase from FY2021
estimated funding for R&D. R&D activities account for approximately 80% of NSF’s total
funding. The total request for R&D activities includes $7.58 billion (93%) for the conduct of
R&D, and $595 million (7%) for R&D facilities and major equipment. Of funding requested for
the conduct of R&D, 86% is requested for basic research, and 14% for applied research. Overall
funding for R&D facilities and major equipment supports not only the construction and
acquisition phases, funded through MREFC ($249 million requested), but also planning, design,
and post-construction operations and maintenance, funded through RRA ($346 million
requested).
As reported by the House Committee on Appropriations on July 19, 2021, H.R. 4505, the
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2022, would provide $9.6
billion in total discretionary funding for NSF, $535 million (5.3%) below the FY2022 request and
$1.1 billion (13.5%) above the FY2021 enacted amount. As released by the Senate Committee on
Appropriations on October 18, 2021, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
Appropriations, 2022, committee print would provide $9.5 billion in total discretionary funding
for NSF, $682 million (6.7%) below the FY2022 request and $1.0 billion (11.8%) above the
FY2021 enacted amount. 52
Research. The Administration seeks $8.14 billion for RRA in FY2022, a $1.23 billion (17.8%)
increase compared to the FY2021 enacted funding. Within the RRA account, the FY2022 request
includes $7.30 billion for R&D, an increase of $1.13 billion (18.3%) compared to the FY2021
50
T he Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260); and Explanatory Statement, Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021, Division B (Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2021),
Congressional Record, vol. 166, no. 218—Book III (December 21, 2021), pp. H7947-H7948.
51 T hese funds are not included in the FY2021 enacted/estimated funding amounts because they are two -year funds that
will not be fully allocated in FY2021; for further information, see NSF FY2022 Budget Request to Congress, p.
Performance and Management -12.
52 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Explanatory Statement for the Commerce, Justice, Science,
and Related Agencies Appropriations, 2022 (committee print), 117 th Cong., 1 st sess., October 18, 2021, p. 162,
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/download/cjsrept_final.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
estimated amount. Of this amount, the majority ($6.96 billion, 95%) is requested for the conduct
of research, including $6.30 billion for basic research and $659 million for applied research.
Compared to the FY2021 estimated levels, the FY2022 request includes increases for all 11 RRA
subaccounts. 53 This includes a request of $865 million for a proposed new Directorate for
Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP), meant to support crosscutting programs and
activities, accelerate the translation of research to market, and catalyze partnerships across
academia, industry, government, investors, and civil society. 54 The FY2022 request also includes
$240 million for the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program,
a $39.6 million (19.8%) increase compared to FY2021 estimated funding.
As reported by the House Committee on Appropriations on July 19, 2021, H.R. 4505 would
provide $7.7 billion for RRA, $444 million (5.5%) below the FY2022 request and $786 million
(11.4%) above the FY2021 enacted amount. As released by the Senate Committee on
Appropriations on October 18, 2021, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
Appropriations, 2022, committee print would provide $7.7 billion for RRA, $473 million (5.8%)
below the FY2022 request and $757 million (11.0%) above the FY2021 enacted amount. 55
Education. The FY2022 request for the EHR account is $1.29 billion, $319 million (33%) more
than the FY2021 enacted amount. By program division, in terms of both dollars and percent, the
Division of Human Resource Development would receive the largest increase, $92.5 million
(43%) over the FY2021 estimated level. EHR programs of particular interest to congressional
policymakers include the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) and National Research
Traineeship (NRT) programs. The FY2022 request for GRFP is $318 million, an increase of $34.0
million (12%) from the FY2021 estimated level. 56 The FY2022 request for NRT is $58 million,
equal to the FY2021 estimated level.
Within EHR, requested funding for R&D is $620 million, which is $154 million (33%) more than
the FY2021 estimated funding amount and accounts for approximately 7.6% of the agency’s total
R&D request. Nearly all of the requested funding would support the conduct of R&D, including
$232 million for basic research and $388 million for applied research.
As reported by the House Committee on Appropriations on July 19, 2021, H.R. 4505 would
provide $1.3 billion for EHR, $13.0 million (1.0%) below the FY2022 request and $306 million
(31.6%) above the FY2021 enacted amount. As released by the Senate Committee on
Appropriations on October 18, 2021, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
Appropriations, 2022, committee print would provide $1.1 billion for EHR, $187 million (14.5%)
below the FY2022 request and $132 million (13.6%) above the FY2022 enacted amount. 57
Construction. The MREFC account supports large construction projects and larger mid-scale
research infrastructure, with all of the funding supporting R&D facilities. The construction phases
53
T he RRA funding table in the budget request seems to show a decrease for the IA subaccount. As noted in the IA
summary funding table, this is because two programs previously in the IA subaccount are moved to other accounts: the
Graduate Research Fellowship program is consolidated into the EHR account, and the Convergence Accelerator
(discussed below) is moved to the T IP subaccount; NSF FY2022 Budget Request to Congress, p. IA-1.
For more information on the T IP Directorate, see NSF, FY2022 Budget Request to Congress, pp. T IP-1 – T IP-8,
https://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2022/pdf/52_fy2022.pdf.
55 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Explanatory Statement for the Commerce, Justice, Science,
and Related Agencies Appropriations, 2022 (committee print), 117 th Cong., 1 st sess., October 18, 2021, p. 163.
54
56
T he subset of GRFP funds provided through RRA in prior years would be consolidated into EHR in FY2022.
57 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Explanatory Statement for the Commerce, Justice, Science,
and Related Agencies Appropriations, 2022 (committee print), 117 th Cong., 1 st sess., October 18, 2021, p. 170.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
of such large-scale projects tend to span multiple years; therefore, NSF provides out-year
estimates of funding for major facilities for the duration of the anticipated timeline, which are
updated annually. This section of the analysis includes comparisons to FY2021 estimated
funding, based on these projections. The Administration is seeking $249 million for MREFC in
FY2022, $8.0 million (3.3%) more than the FY2021 enacted amount.
Requested MREFC funding would support continued construction of the Vera C. Rubin
Observatory ($40.8 million requested, equal to the FY2021 estimate)—previously called the
Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)—and the Antarctic Infrastructure Recapitalization
program (AIR, $90.0 million requested, equal to the FY2021 estimate). 58 The request includes
$36.0 million for upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, which would represent
the third year of a five-year project. Additionally, $76.2 million is requested for Mid-scale
Research Infrastructure projects (those projects with funding amounts in the $20 million to $100
million range); this was a new funding line-item in the MREFC account as of FY2020, meant to
manage support for upgrades to major facilities and stand-alone projects in this range as a
portfolio.
As reported by the House Committee on Appropriations on July 19, 2021, H.R. 4505 would
provide $249 million for MREFC, equal to the FY2022 request and $8.0 million (3.3%) below
the FY2021 enacted amount. As released by the Senate Committee on Appropriations on October
18, 2021, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations, 2022,
committee print would also provide $249 million for MREFC. 59
Other Initiatives. The FY2022 NSF budget request includes funding for multiple agency-wide
investments, including the Big Ideas and Convergence Accelerator (CA), as well as three
multiagency initiatives. This funding is included in multiple NSF appropriations accounts, and
R&D amounts are not separately provided.
For FY2022, NSF requests funding for eight Big Ideas, including five Research and three
Enabling Big Ideas. The Big Ideas were first proposed in 2016 as an “endeavor to break down the
silos of conventional scientific research … to define and push the frontiers of global science and
engineering leadership and to invest in fundamental research.”60 Requested funding amounts for
each of the Big Ideas compared to the FY2021 estimated amounts include the following:61
Harnessing the Data Revolution for 21st -Century Science and Engineering
(HDR): $180 million requested, up $5.8 million (3.3%) from FY2021.
The Future of Work at the Human Technology Frontier (FW-HTF): $173 million
requested, up $11 million (6.8%) from FY2021.
Navigating the New Arctic (NNA): $37.2 million requested, up $1.0 million
(2.8%) from FY2021.
Understanding the Rules of Life (URoL): Predicting Phenotype: $113 million
requested, up $30 million (36%) from FY2021.
58
T he FY2022 funding for AIR is requested as part of re-baselining of the Antarctic Infrastructure Modernization for
Science (AIMS) program, which encountered significant disruptions and delays due to COVID-19 restrictions as field
work and on-ice construction work was in the early stages; NSF, FY2022 Budget Request to Congress, pp. MREFC-8 –
MREFC-13.
59
U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Explanatory Statement for the Commerce, Justice, Science,
and Related Agencies Appropriations, 2022 (committee print), 117 th Cong., 1 st sess., October 18, 2021, p. 169.
60 NSF, FY2021 Budget Request to Congress, February 10, 202, pp. Overview-9 – Overview-10.
61 Starting in FY2021, activities of the Quantum Leap Big Idea are to be managed within NSF’s broader Quantum
Information Science (QIS) portfolio.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Windows on the Universe (WoU): $66.8 million requested, up $2.6 million
(4.1%) from FY2021.
Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented
Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES): $46.5 million
requested, up $26.5 million (132%) from FY2021.
Growing Convergence Research at NSF (GCR): $24.2 million requested, up $8.2
million (51%) from FY2021.
Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure: $126 million requested, up $17.3 million
(16%) from FY2021. 62
The Convergence Accelerator
is an organizational framework that stands separately from the NSF research directorates,
with its own budget, staff, and initiatives. Each CA research track will be a time-limited
entity focused on specific research topics and themes. Therefore, CA research tracks will
evolve over time and will be informed by external stakeholder input. The CA will reward
high-risk, innovative thinking by multidisciplinary teams of researchers who want to
accelerate discovery and innovation. The CA is a way of achieving rapid lab -to-market or
research outcomes.63
While the initial CA research tracks focused on a subset of the Big Ideas, the FY2022 request is
intended to support new research tracks informed by responses to a Request for Information,
current national priorities, and other external stakeholder input. NSF has requested $70 million
for the CA in FY2022, equal to the FY2021 estimated amount.
The budget request also includes three multi-agency initiatives. The National Nanotechnology
Initiative would receive $471 million, $29.0 million (6.6%) more than the FY2021 estimate. The
Networking and Information Technology Research and Development program would receive
$2.07 billion, an increase of $484 million (31%). The U.S. Global Change Research Program
would receive $762 million, $241 million (46%) more than the FY2021 estimate. 64 These figures
represent funding within agency budgets for those agencies involved in these interagency
activities. The coordination offices for these initiatives have much smaller budgets.
Table 12. National Science Foundation Funding
(budget authority, in millions of dollars)
FY2021
Enacted/
Estimateda
FY2022
Request
FY2022
H. Cmte.e
FY2022
S. Drafte
Research and Related
Activities (RRA)
6,909.8
8,139.7
7,695.7
7,667.1
R&D, RRA Total
6,174.7
7,304.7
n/a
n/a
Conduct of R&D
Account
5,882.3
6,958.9
n/a
n/a
R&D Facilities and Major Equipment
292.4
345.9
n/a
n/a
Education and Human
Resources (EHR)
968.0
1,287.3
1,274.3
1,100.0
FY2022
Enacted
62
T his total includes Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1, funded through RRA, for projects costing $6 million -$20
million, as well as Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-2, funded through MREFC, for projects costing $20 million -$100
million.
63 NSF, FY2021 Budget Request to Congress, February 10, 2020, p. Overview-10.
64 For additional information on these initiatives, see “NSF-Wide Investments.”
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
FY2021
Enacted/
Estimateda
FY2022
Request
FY2022
H. Cmte.e
FY2022
S. Drafte
R&D, EHR Total
465.9
619.6
n/a
n/a
Conduct of R&D
Account
465.8
619.5
n/a
n/a
R&D Facilities and Major Equipment
0.1
0.1
n/a
n/a
Major Research Equipment
and Facilities Construction
(MREFC)
241.0
249.0
249.0
249.0
R&D, MREFC Total
241.0
249.0
n/a
n/a
Conduct of R&D
0.0
0.0
n/a
n/a
R&D Facilities and Major Equipment
241.0
249.0
n/a
n/a
Agency Operations and
Award Management
(AOAM)b
345.6
468.3
390.0
445.6
Office of the Inspector
General (OIG)b
17.9
20.4
20.4
20.4
National Science Board
(NSB)b
4.5
4.6
4.6
4.6
NSF, Total Discretionary 0
8,486.8
10,169.3
9,634.0
9,486.8
R&D, NSF Total
6,881.6
8,173.3
n/a
n/a
Total, Conduct of R&D
6,348.2
7,578.4
n/a
n/a
533.4
595.0
n/a
n/a
Total, R&D Facilities & Major
Equipment
FY2022
Enacted
Sources: Data in the columns titled “FY2021 Enacted/Estimated” and “FY2022 Request” are from P.L. 116-260
and the NSF FY2022 Budget Request to Congress. Data in the “FY2022 House” column are from H.Rept. 117-97.
Data in the “FY2022 Senate” column are from the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Explanatory Statement
for the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations, 2022 (committee print), 117 th Congress, 1 st
session, released on October 18, 2021, https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/download/cjsrept_final.
Notes: n/a = not available. Appropriations accounts are in bold. NSF total may differ from the sum of the
accounts due to rounding. Nonbold R&D funding amounts are a subset of funding for the specified accounts.
Figures for the columns currently blank may become available as action is completed.
a.
FY2021 account funding amounts (bold) are as enacted ( P.L. 116-260); FY2021 R&D funding amounts
(nonbold) are as estimated by NSF. These amounts do not include $600 million in two-year appropriations
for NSF as enacted in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) “to fund or extend new and
existing research grants, cooperative agreements, scholarships, fellowships, and apprenticeships, and related
administrative expenses to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.”
b.
The AOAM, NSB, and OIG accounts have no reported R&D fundin g.
c.
In addition to discretionary funding, NSF reports mandatory funding from H-1B visa and donation sources,
which are not included in this total.
d.
Data are from H.R. 4505, as reported by the House Committee on Appropriations on July 19, 2021, and
the accompanying explanatory report, H.Rept. 117-97.
e.
Data are from the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations, 2022 (committee print), as
released by the Senate Committee on Appropriations on October 18, 2021, available at
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/download/cjsfy2022_final.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Department of Agriculture 65
The U.S. Department of Agriculture was created in 1862 to support agricultural research in an
expanding, agriculturally dependent country. Today, USDA conducts intramural research at
federal facilities with federally employed scientists, and supports extramural research at
universities and other facilities through competitive grants and capacity (formula-based) funding.
The breadth of contemporary USDA research spans traditional agricultural production practices,
as well as organic and sustainable agriculture, bioenergy, nutritional needs and food composition,
food safety, animal and plant health, pest and disease management, economic decisionmaking,
and other social sciences affecting consumers, farmers, and rural communities.
The four agencies of USDA’s Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area carry out
the Department’s research and education activities. 66 These agencies are the Agricultural
Research Service (ARS), the principal intramural research agency; the National Institute of Food
and Agriculture (NIFA), the principal extramural research agency; the National Agricultural
Statistics Service (NASS), which undertakes a variety of surveys to capture data about agriculture
and food production; and the Economic Research Service (ERS), which applies economic
analysis to a wide range of topics related to food and agriculture. In addition to the four REE
agencies, the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS), a staff office within the Office of the Under
Secretary of REE, coordinates science activities across the department.
On August 4, 2021, the Senate Committee on Appropriations reported the Agriculture, Rural
Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2022 (S.
2599). This bill would provide $3,659.7 million in discretionary spending for the REE agencies
for FY2022, 67 an 8.7% increase ($292.8 million) from the FY2021 amount ($3,366.9 million)
enacted in P.L. 116-260, 68 and 11.5% ($475.4 million) less than the FY2022 amount requested by
the Administration ($4,135.1 million). The House-passed FY2022 appropriations bill (H.R. 4502)
would provide a total of $3,699.1 million in discretionary spending, 69 an increase of 9.9% ($332.2
million) above the FY2021 amount. The Senate-reported bill, the House-passed bill, and the
Administration’s FY2022 request are discussed below for the REE agencies and the Office of the
Under Secretary of REE. Table 13 presents funding amounts.
Certain appropriations for the REE agencies and OCS are not presented in Table 13, and are
discussed separately below. These include appropriations made in the General Provisions of P.L.
116-260, P.L. 117-2, and appropriations that would be provided in H.R. 4502 and S. 2599. Within
65
T his section was written by Genevieve K. Croft, Analyst in Agricultural Policy, CRS Resources, Science, and
Industry Division.
66
For additional information, see CRS Report R40819, Agricultural Research: Background and Issues, by Genevieve
K. Croft.
67
T he committee report for the Senate-reported FY2022 appropriations bill for agriculture is S.Rept. 117-34.
68 FY2021 enacted appropriations and related congressional directives presented in this report section derive from P.L.
116-260; the accompanying Explanatory Statement, Division A—Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug
Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2021 ; H.Rept. 116-446 (to accompany the House FY2021
agriculture appropriations bill, H.R. 7610, 116 th Congress); and the Senate explanatory statement to accompany the
Senate FY2021 agriculture appropriations draft bill, both available at https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/
committee-releases-fy21-bills-in-effort-to-advance-process-produce-bipartisan-results. For P.L. 116-260, Division A,
T itle I (Agricultural Programs), provides regular appropriations for USDA, including the REE agencies and OCS. In
this report section, unless otherwise noted, funds provided outside of this division and title are discussed separately
from FY2021 discretionary funding totals.
69 T he committee report for the House-passed FY2022 appropriations bill for agriculture (H.R. 4502, Division B) is
H.Rept. 117-82. T his report remains associated with the original bill reported for agriculture (H.R. 4356). T he
committee report associated with H.R. 4502 (H.Rept. 117-96) does not address agriculture.
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the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Division A, Title VII (General Provisions) provided
an additional $31.7 million, and Division M (Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental
Appropriations Act, 2021) provided $140.5 million of supplementary discretionary funding and
$20 million of annual mandatory funding. Separately, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
(P.L. 117-2) provided additional appropriations for USDA, some of which may be administered
through REE, though implemented amounts and specific programming are not yet known. In
addition to discretionary appropriations, agricultural research is funded by certain mandatory
funding authorized by the 2018 farm bill (P.L. 115-334P.L. 116-260, as well as state matching
contributions and private donations or grants.
Agricultural Research Service
ARS is USDA’s in-house basic and applied research agency, and has major responsibilities for
conducting and leading the national agricultural research effort. ARS operates approximately 90
laboratories, with about 5,000 permanent employees, including approximately 2,000 research
scientists. ARS laboratories include a focus on efficient and sustainable 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 (NAL). NAL is the world’s largest
agricultural research library, and is a primary information repository for food, agriculture, and
natural resource sciences.
For FY2022, S. 2599 would provide $1,675.0 million for ARS salaries and expenses, a 12.3%
increase over the FY2021 appropriation ($1,491.8 million), and 9.4% less than the
Administration’s FY2022 request ($1,849.6 million). For ARS buildings and facilities, the
Senate-reported bill would provide $45.4 million, the same amount requested by the
Administration for FY2022, and a 27.2% increase from the FY2021 appropriation ($35.7 million,
Table 13). The House-passed bill would provide $126.5 million for ARS buildings and facilities,
a total that includes $46.7 million in community project funding 70 for six ARS facilities. The
Senate-reported bill would provide $39.7 million in congressionally directed spending for a
university-based ARS Plant Germplasm Research Facility.
Among Administration requests for ARS are (1) $92 million for climate science, (2) $5 million
for the USDA climate hubs, and (3) $95 million for an agreement with the Department of Energy
for the Administration’s proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency–Climate (ARPA-C). The
Senate-reported bill does not specifically address the Administration proposals. S. 2599 supports
the USDA climate hubs with $5 million for ARS research teams and $5 million for a fellowship
program. It also provides $2.5 million for research on climate change and agricultural pathogens,
and $4 million for climate science research at NAL. The House-passed bill includes $50 million
to support some of the Administration proposals, including $10 million for the USDA climate
hubs. The House-passed bill does not provide ARS funding for ARPA-C because “the budget
request lacks an adequate justification of ARS’s role.”71
70 Community project funding, also referred to as earmarks, provides appropriations for specific projects at the request
of Members of Congress. T he House Appropriations Committee announced it would accept such appropriations
requests for FY2022. For additional information, see House Committee on Appropriations, “DeLauro Announces
Community Project Funding in Fiscal Year 2022,” February 26, 2021, https://appropriations.house.gov/news/pressreleases/delauro-announces-community-project-funding-in-fiscal-year-2022.
71 H.Rept. 117-82, p. 16.
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ARS continues to coordinate with the Department of Homeland Security on the new National Bio
and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), which DHS is constructing to replace the outdated Plum
Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC). 72 In January 2019, USDA and DHS signed a
Memorandum of Agreement to govern the transition of NBAF from DHS to USDA, with
ownership to transfer upon its completion and commissioning. 73 USDA projects the transfer of
operations from PIADC to NBAF will be completed by December 2023. 74 The Administration
requests a total of $118.7 million for NBAF in ARS salaries and expenses, and an increase of
$10.6 million in ARS buildings and facilities funds. The Senate-reported bill would provide $49.0
million in ARS salaries and expenses, and does not provide buildings and facilities funds for
NBAF.
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture is USDA’s principal extramural research agency.
It provides federal funding for research, education, and extension projects conducted in
partnership with land-grant colleges and universities (LGUs), State Agricultural Experiment
Stations, the Cooperative Extension System, other research and education institutions, private
organizations, and individuals. NIFA partnerships include the three types of LGUs —1862
(original) Institutions, 1890 (historically Black) Institutions, and 1994 (tribal) Institutions—as
well as other higher education institutions. 75 Federal funds awarded through NIFA capacity
(formula-based) and competitive grants enhance research capacity at these institutions. 76 While
NIFA is headquartered in Washington, DC, USDA relocated the majority of NIFA staff positions
to Kansas City, MO, in 2019. 77
The Senate-reported bill and the House-passed bill recommend the same total of $1,656.8 million
in discretionary spending for NIFA activities in FY2022, albeit with different emphases. This is
$86.8 million more (5.5%) than was enacted in FY2021 ($1,570.0 million) and $299.0 million
less (-15.3%) than the Administration request ($1,955.8 million, Table 13).
The Administration’s FY2022 budget request proposes a change in appropriations language that
would combine three separate NIFA funding accounts—for research and education, extension,
and integrated activities—into one agency account that includes all programs. 78 The
Administration argues that consolidating the accounts would “mirror the organization as a
72 For additional information, see CRS In Focus IF11492, National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility: Purpose and Status,
by Genevieve K. Croft .
73 USDA and DHS, Memorandum of Agreement Between the U.S. Department of Agriculture Marketing and
Regulatory Programs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Research, Education, and Economics, and the Department
of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, June 20, 2019, at https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/
documents/usda-dhs-moa.pdf.
74 USDA, “USDA and DHS S&T Revise NBAF Project T imeline,” Press Release, December 15, 2020,
https://www.usda.gov/nbaf/media/press-releases/2020/usda-dhs-st-revise-nbaf-project-timeline.
75 1862, 1890, and 1994 refer to the years of enactment of the laws that created these institutional classifications. For
more information on LGUs and other NIFA-funded institutions, see CRS Report R45897, The U.S. Land-Grant
University System: An Overview, by Genevieve K. Croft , and CRS In Focus IF11847, 1890 Land-Grant Universities:
Background and Selected Issues, by Genevieve K. Croft .
76 T he National Agricultural Research, Extension, and T eaching Policy Act of 1977 designated USDA as the lead
federal agency for higher education in the food and agricultural sciences.
77
For further information, see CRS In Focus IF11527, Relocation of the USDA Research Agencies: NIFA and ERS , by
Genevieve K. Croft .
78 Similar consolidations in NIFA were also proposed by the Obama and T rump Administrations, but were not adopted
by Congress.
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National Institute with a unified mission and offer opportunities to streamline administration of
funds.”79 The House and Senate bills do not comment on or adopt this recommendation.
Research and Education. Hatch Act and Evans-Allen Act funds support capacity grants for
research and education activities at 1862 and 1890 Institutions, respectively. For Hatch Act
programs, S. 2599 would provide $275.0 million, which is $54.4 million less (-16.5%) than the
Administration request ($329.4 million) and $16.0 million more than the FY2021 enacted amount
($259.0 million). H.R. 4502 would provide $265.0 million. For Evans-Allen programs, S. 2599
would provide $73.0 million, the same as the FY2021 enacted amount and $19.8 million less than
both the Administration request and the amount that H.R. 4502 would provide ($92.8 million).
The McIntire-Stennis program provides capacity funds for forestry research at LGUs and state
colleges of forestry. For FY2022, S. 2599 would provide $40.0 million, $4.0 million more than
the FY2021 enacted amount ($36.0 million) and $5.8 million less than the Administration request
for FY2022 ($45.8 million). H.R. 4502 would provide $38.0 million for this program.
The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is USDA’s flagship competitive research
grants program, and currently represents about 28.0% of NIFA’s total discretionary budget. The
Senate-reported bill would provide $445 million for AFRI. This is $10.0 million more (2.3%)
than the FY2021 enacted amount. The Administration is requesting $700.0 million—the full
amount authorized by the 2018 farm bill—a 60.9% increase over FY2021. The House-passed bill
would provide $450.0 million for AFRI for FY2022. NIFA also funds the Sustainable Agriculture
Research and Education (SARE) program. For FY2021, P.L. 116-260 provides $40.0 million for
SARE. For FY2022, S. 2599 would provide $45.0 million, H.R. 4502 would provide $50.0
million, and the Administration requests $60.0 million.
Extension. Smith-Lever Act 3(b) and 3(c) programs provide capacity grants to 1862 Institutions
to support cooperative extension. The Senate-reported bill recommends $330.0 million for
FY2022, $15.0 million more than both the enacted FY2021 amount and the Administration’s
FY2022 request ($315.0 million). The House-passed bill recommends $320.0 million.
Smith-Lever Act 3(d) programs provide competitive grants to LGUs to support cooperative
extension. These programs include grants for food and nutrition education; new technologies for
agricultural extension; federally recognized tribes; children, youth, and families at risk; and farm
safety education. For Smith-Lever 3(d) programs in FY2022, S. 2599 recommends $90.7 million,
H.R. 4502 recommends $88.1 million, and the Administration is requesting $89.6 million. For all
three FY2022 proposals, $70.0 million of the Smith-Lever 3(d) funds would support the
Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).
Integrated Activities. Integrated activities are those activities that include some combination of
teaching, education, and research. For integrated activities in FY2022, both S. 2599 and H.R.
4502 propose $40.0 million. The Administration requests $39.0 million—the same as the FY2021
appropriation.
Other appropriations. Congress may also provide funding—in addition to those sums discussed
above—for certain NIFA programs and activities, in the general provisions of annual
appropriations acts. The President’s budget request for FY2022 includes funding requests for a
NIFA pilot program to enhance farming and ranching activities for military veterans ($5.0
million), the 1890 Centers of Excellence ($10.0 million), and establishing a business innovation
center at an 1890 Institution ($2.0 million). The Senate-reported bill would provide the requested
funding for the 1890 Centers of Excellence in NIFA’s research and appropriations account, and
79 USDA, “National Institute of Food and Agriculture,” 2022 USDA Budget Explanatory Notes for Committee on
Appropriations, 2021, p. 21-27.
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the requested funding for the military veterans pilot program through Title VII, General
Provisions. The House-passed bill would provide the requested funding for the military veterans
pilot program and the 1890 Centers of Excellence through Title VII, General Provisions. Neither
bill would provide funds for the business innovation center.
In addition to P.L. 116-260, other appropriations provide FY2021 funding for NIFA. The
Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act includes $140.5 million for
NIFA programs in FY2021, including $75.0 million for the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive
Program, $37.5 million for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, and $28.0
million for the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network. NIFA may also administer some
portion of the $1.01 billion provided to USDA for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers
through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2, §1006). 80 Some community project
funding in both the House-passed and Senate-reported agriculture appropriations bills, as well as
language in proposed infrastructure bills, would support university research programs and
facilities.
National Agricultural Statistics Service
The National Agricultural Statistics Service conducts the quinquennial Census of Agriculture and
provides official statistics on agricultural production and farm sector indicators. It is one of the 13
principal statistical agencies of the U.S. Federal Statistical System.
The Senate-reported bill recommends $191.7 million for NASS for FY2022, $2.5 million more
than the House-passed bill ($189.2 million), and $2.0 million less than the Administration’s
request ($193.7 million). These proposed amounts compare with an enacted appropriation of
$183.9 million for FY2021. Both bills and the Administration’s request recommend that $46.9
million of the NASS appropriation would support the Census of Agriculture. The Senate-reported
bill directs NASS to issue a report within 120 days of enactment on how the agency can improve
report accuracy through the use of technology, improved coordination with partners, and other
approaches. The House-passed bill directs NASS to plan a study of agritourism in FY2022, and to
continue stakeholder outreach on how to improve data collection on urban, indoor, and emerging
agricultural production.
Economic Research Service
The Economic Research Service supports economic and social science analysis about agriculture,
rural development, food, commodity markets, and the environment. It also collects and
disseminates data concerning USDA programs and policies. Like NASS, ERS is one of the
principal statistical agencies of the U.S. Federal Statistical System. While ERS is headquartered
in Washington, DC, USDA relocated the majority of ERS staff positions to Kansas City, MO, in
2019. 81
For FY2022, S. 2599 recommends $90.8 million for ERS, an increase of 6.2% ($5.3 million) over
FY2021 enacted appropriations ($85.5 million), and 2.5% ($2.2 million) more than H.R. 4502,
which would provide $88.6 million. The Administration requests $90.6 million of FY2022. The
Senate-passed bill directs ERS to issue a report within one year on “incentive programs for
encouraging the voluntary adoption of various agricultural management practices that increase
80 As of the submission of this report, USDA has not announced how it plans to spend this funding.
81 See CRS In Focus IF11527, Relocation of the USDA Research Agencies: NIFA and ERS , by Genevieve K. Croft .
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
carbon sequestration in soil.”82 The House-passed bill includes $2.0 million for ERS to expand its
data modeling capabilities with respect to climate change and its impact on production and the
farm economy.
Office of the REE Under Secretary and Office of the Chief Scientist
Congress created the Office of the Chief Scientist in 2008 when it established the dual role of the
Under Secretary for REE as the USDA Chief Scientist (7 U.S.C. §6971). OCS coordinates
research programs and activities across USDA. Administratively, it is a component of the Office
of the Under Secretary of REE.
In recent years, congressional appropriations for the Office of the Under Secretary of REE have
included funds for the Under Secretary and a partial staff. 83 Congress has not provided direct
appropriations for OCS operations since its establishment. As such, OCS has been funded via
interagency agreement among the REE agencies. The President’s budget request for FY2021
included for the first time a separate request for OCS; however FY2021 enacted appropriations
did not provide the requested funds.
For FY2022, the Administration request, the House-passed bill, and the Senate-reported bill all
include funds for the Office of the Under Secretary of REE but do not include funds for OCS
operations. The Administration request and the House-passed bill do propose funding for a pilot
program within OCS: the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority
(AGARDA). The 2018 farm bill (P.L. 115-334, §7132) establishes AGARDA as a pilot project
within OCS to target long-term and high-risk research and development that private industry
would be unlikely to undertake. The 2018 farm bill authorized $50 million in annual
appropriations through FY2023 and required OCS to issue an AGARDA strategic plan by
December 2019. To date, AGARDA has not received appropriations, USDA has not established
the pilot program, and USDA has not publicly issued a strategic plan.
For FY2022, S. 2599 would provide $1.3 million for the Office of the Under Secretary for REE,
and the bill would not provide funds for OCS operations or programs. The House-passed bill
would provide $4.3 million for the Office of the Under Secretary of REE, $2.0 million less
(-31.6%) than the President’s budget request ($6.3 million). Of the amounts proposed for this
office, the House-passed bill would allocate $2.0 million for OCS, and the President’s budget
request would allocate $5.0 million. In both cases, the OCS funds would be for AGARDA.
Both S. 2599 and H.R. 4502 would provide OCS with an additional $400,000, through General
Provisions, for pollinator research coordination—the same amount as provided in FY2021
enacted appropriations.
82 S.Rept. 117-34, p. 16.
83 For example, T able OSEC-5 of USDA’s FY2021 explanatory notes identifies $800,000 and three staff years for the
Office of the Under Secretary for REE. USDA, “Office of the Secretary,” 2021 USDA Budget Explanatory Notes for
Committee on Appropriations, 2020, p. 1-9.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
Table 13. U.S. Department of Agriculture R&D
(budget authority, in millions of dollars)
Agency or Major Program
FY2021
Enacted
FY2022
Request
FY2022
House
FY2022
S. Cmte.
1,491.8
1,849.6
1,638.0
1,675.0
FY2022
Enacted
Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Salaries and Expenses
Buildings and Facilities
35.7
45.4
126.5
45.4
1,527.5
1,895.0
1,764.6
1,720.4
AFRI (competitive grants)
435.0
700.0
450.0
445.0
Hatch Act (1862 Institutions)
259.0
329.4
265.0
275.0
Evans-Allen (1890 Institutions)
73.0
92.8
92.8
73.0
Subtotal, ARS
National Institute of Food and
Agriculture (NIFA)
Research and Education
McIntire-Stennis (forestry)
36.0
45.8
38.0
40.0
Other
189.6
210.4
217.5 a
224.4
Subtotal, Research and Education
992.6
1,378.4
1,063.3a
1,057.4
Smith-Lever 3(b) and 3(c)
315.0
315.0
320.0
330.0
Smith-Lever 3(d)
90.1
89.6
88.1
90.7
1890 Extension Activities
62.0
62.0
67.0
62.0
1994 Extension Activities
8.5
8.5
9.5
10.0
Other
62.8
63.3
68.9
66.7
Subtotal, Extension
538.4
538.4
553.5
559.4
Extension
Integrated Activities
39.0
39.0
40.0
40.0
1,570.0
1,955.8
1,656.8a
1,656.8
National Agricultural Statistics
Service (NASS)
183.9
193.7
189.2
191.7
Economic Research Service (ERS)
85.5
90.6
88.6
90.8
Total, USDA Research, Education,
and Economics Agencies
3,366.9
4,135.1
3,699.1a
3,659.7
0.8
6.3
4.3
1.3
-
5.0
2.0
-
Subtotal, NIFA
Office of the Under Secretary of REE
Office of the Chief Scientist
Sources: CRS, compiled from P.L. 116-260 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, FY2021 Explanatory Statement,
Division A; FY2022 USDA Budget Justification Notes; H.R. 4502; H.Rept. 117-82; S. 2599; and S.Rept. 117-34.
Notes: Totals may differ from the sum of the components due to rounding. Figures for the column currently
blank may become available as action is completed. Amounts do not include appropriations included in General
Provisions or mandatory funding. FY2021 enacted amounts do not include $160.5 million provided through P.L.
116-260, Division M (Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021), or funds
provided in Section 1006 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ( P.L. 117-2). Section 1006 provides $1.01
billion, of which not less than 5% is intended to supplement agricultural research, education, and extension. As of
the writing of this report, USDA has not announced how it intends to allocate these funds.
a.
This amount is $2 million higher than in H.Rept. 117-82 due to amendments included in H.R. 4502.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022
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 Technology84
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.”85 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.86
Regular appropriations for NIST are provided through the annual Commerce, Justice, Science,
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (CJS Act). President Biden is requesting $1,497.2
million for NIST in FY2022, an increase of $462.7 million (44.7%) from the FY2021 enacted
appropriation of $1,034.5 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).
The President’s FY2022 request includes $915.6 million for laboratory R&D programs, corporate
services, and standards coordination and special programs in the STRS account, an increase of
$127.6 million (16.2%) from the FY2021 enacted level. 87 Program increases include
Climate and Energy Measurements, Tools, and Testbeds, $54.8 million (up $18.0
million);88
Quantum Information Science, Engineering, and Metrology, $61.8 million (up
$15.0 million);89
Partnerships, Research, and Standards to Advance Trustworthy Artificial
Intelligence, $45.4 million (up $15.0 million); 90
84 T his section was written by John F. Sargent Jr., Specialist in Science and T echnology Policy, CRS Resources,
Science, and Industry Division.
85 NIST website, “General Information,” http://nist.gov/public_affairs/general_information.cfm.
86 15 U.S.C. §272.
87
CRS analysis of data from U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and T echnology, National
Institute of Standards and T echnology/National Technical Information Service, Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Submission to
Congress, p. NIST -3, https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/
fy2022_nist_congressional_budget_justification.pdf.
88 Ibid., p. NIST -64.
89 Ibid., p. NIST -37.
90 Ibid., p. NIST -42.
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Federal Research and Development (R&D
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