Science Policy News from AIBS

Action Alert: Ask Your U.S. Representative to Support Investment in NSF

Congress has started debate on funding levels for federal programs for fiscal year (FY) 2025. Please show your support for the National Science Foundation (NSF) by asking your Representative to sign a Dear Colleague Letter in support of $10.2 billion in funding for the agency in 2025, the same level requested by President Biden.

NSF is the primary federal funding source for fundamental biological research at our nation's universities and colleges. The agency provides approximately 66% of extramural federal support for non-medical, fundamental biological and environmental research at academic institutions.

In FY 2024, NSF received a more than 8% cut to its budget compared to FY 2023. This is the first time that funding for NSF has decreased in a decade. The FY 2024 allocation hurts research and undermines the nation's ability to address societal challenges at a time when we're facing critical emerging technology and competitiveness threats. Further, this cut ignores the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which provided an exciting framework for growing federal investments in scientific research. Continued failure to meet the funding levels authorized for NSF in this bipartisan law will lead to billions of dollars in lost opportunities to strengthen our nation's science, technology, innovation, and the STEM workforce.

An effort is now underway in the House of Representatives to build support for increased FY 2025 funding for NSF. Representatives Joe Neguse (D-CO) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) are circulating a Dear Colleague Letter calling on Congress to provide $10.2 billion in funding to NSF in FY 2025.

Please take a few moments to ask your Representative to sign the bipartisan Neguse-Fitzpatrick Dear Colleague Letter. The deadline for Representatives to be added to the letter is COB on Friday, April 19, 2024.

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Congress Wraps Up FY 2024 Appropriations, Avoiding a Partial Shutdown

Congress has now passed and President Biden has signed into law all twelve fiscal year (FY) 2024 appropriations bills, almost six months after the fiscal year started. After passing a six-bill "minibus" package earlier in March, Congress passed the remaining six bills after briefly breaching the midnight March 22 deadline.

The second minibus combined spending bills for State-Foreign Operations, Financial Services-General Government, Legislative Branch, Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS), Defense, and Homeland Security.

The Labor-HHS spending bill includes a roughly 0.8 percent cut to the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) budget, flat funding of $1.5 billion for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), and essentially flat funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). President Biden had requested an $811 million boost for NIH and a $1 billion increase for ARPA-H.

Overall, NIH received $47.1 billion, $378 million below FY 2023. The National Cancer Institute was funded at $7.2 billion, an increase of $120 million over FY 2023. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Human Genome Research Institute, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences received essentially flat funding along with most of the other 27 NIH institutes and centers.

Notably, the final bill did not include controversial House-proposed measures to curb diversity efforts at NIH, restrict federal funding for fetal tissue research, and ban HHS-funded "gain of function" research on potential pathogens.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services, also funded under the Labor-HHS bill, received $294.8 million, equal to the FY 2023 enacted level for the agency. Its Office of Museum Services also received level funding of $55.5 million.

Science Agencies Slated for Increases in Biden's FY 2025 Budget Request

President Joe Biden released his budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2025 on Monday, once again calling for major investments in climate change, scientific research, and conservation. The budget framework proposes boosts for most federal research agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The $7.3 trillion budget proposal includes $1.7 trillion in discretionary spending for FY 2025. Notably, the plan proposes tax increases for wealthy individuals and large corporations that are expected to cut deficits by $3 trillion over the next decade.

In total, $202 billion would be directed to Federal research and development activities, a $2 billion increase over FY 2023. The budget outline includes $4.5 billion for climate research, $10.7 billion for clean energy innovation, and $3.4 billion for Cancer Moonshot related research investments. It would provide roughly $20 billion in discretionary spending for the science agencies authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act, namely NSF, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The plan requests $900 million, a 35 percent boost compared to FY 2023, for the new Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships at NSF.

Some key items related to science in the budget request are described below.

The President requests a total of $10.2 billion for NSF in FY 2025, a 12 percent increase compared to the total enacted budget of $9.1 billion for the agency in FY 2024. The research account would also grow by 12 percent to roughly $8 billion. The request falls significantly short of the CHIPS and Science Act authorization of $16.7 billion for the science agency in FY 2025.
The request includes $6.6 billion for NOAA, 3.8 percent more than the FY 2024 enacted level.
The Administration requests $25.4 billion for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), an increase of 2 percent. NASA's Earth Science division would grow by roughly 8 percent to $2.4 billion.
NIST would see a 2.6 percent bump to $1.5 billion overall. Its Scientific and Technical Research and Services account would receive an almost 10 percent cut to $975 million, while its construction account would see its budget expand by 85 percent.
The Department of the Interior would receive a total of $18 billion. USGS is slated to receive $1.6 billion, an increase of 8 percent. This includes $326 million for Ecosystems Mission Area, an increase of $27 million or 9 percent relative to FY 2024. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would receive $1.9 billion in discretionary spending, an increase of 9.5 percent. The National Park Service would be funded at $3.6 billion, an increase of 7.5 percent. The Bureau of Land Management would receive a boost of 10 percent to $1.5 billion.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would get $50.2 billion in FY 2025, a roughly 6.6 percent increase over FY 2024. Most of this increase would go to the National Cancer Institute.
Budget for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) would remain flat at $1.5 billion compared to its FY 2024 budget.
EPA's budget would get a significant bump of 20 percent to nearly $11 billion in FY 2025, with its Science and Technology account expanding by 33 percent to $1 billion.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture would receive a discretionary budget of $31.6 billion. This includes a total of more than $4 billion (+$250 million) for agricultural research, education, and outreach. The Agricultural Research Service would see its budget shrink by 3.3 percent to $1.8 billion, while the National Institute of Food and Agriculture would receive a 3.5 percent boost to $1.7 billion. The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative would grow by 7 percent to $475 million.
DOE would receive $51.4 billion in FY 2025. Of this total, $8.6 billion (+4 percent) is requested for the DOE Office of Science, with Biological and Environmental Research slated to receive $945 million (+5 percent).
The Administration requests $1.16 billion for the Smithsonian Institution, a 6.4 percent increase over FY 2024 enacted levels. The salaries account for the National Museum of Natural History would also grow by 6.4 percent to $59 million.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services would receive $280 million, a decrease of roughly $15 million compared to FY 2024 enacted levels. Of this total, $47 million would be directed to its Office of Museum Services, a decrease of 8.5 million relative to FY 2024.

The President's budget request is meant to serve as a starting point for congressional debate on appropriations, with the final decisions about spending levels resting with lawmakers. Although President Biden's FY 2025 proposal is not expected to pass in the House, it provides useful insights into his plans and priorities for a second term.

President Requests 12 percent Boost for NSF in FY 2025

President Biden's budget framework for fiscal year (FY) 2025 proposes to boost the National Science Foundation's (NSF) overall funding by 12.4 percent to $10.2 billion. This request is significantly lower than Biden's FY 2024 request of $11.3 billion for NSF. Since Congress provided NSF with an 8 percent cut in FY 2024, the FY 2025 request is only about 3 percent higher than the FY 2023 enacted level.

Furthermore, the Administration's request falls significantly short of the $16.7 billion level authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act for NSF in FY 2025.

NSF's proposal is organized around 4 themes--advancing emerging industries for national and economic security, building a resilient planet, creating opportunities everywhere, and strengthening research infrastructure. Roughly $2.2 billion is proposed to support investments in emerging industries that include advanced manufacturing, advanced wireless, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, microelectronics, semiconductors, and quantum information science.

The research account at NSF would receive a total of $8 billion, an increase of 12 percent over FY 2024. Of this total, $900 million would be set aside for the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate to help translate research into practical applications. This represents a 35 percent bump for the commercialization-focused directorate compared to the total funding it received in 2023. $205 million is requested under TIP's budget to support the NSF Regional Innovation Engines in FY 2025 to "catalyze new business and economic growth in those regions of America that have not fully participated in the technology boom of the past several decades." Similarly, the Convergence Accelerator would receive $100 million to "regionalize its approach to accelerate the translation of use-inspired research by investing in regional cohorts of transdisciplinary, multi-sector teams pursuing technology solutions to location-specific challenges."

Overall, NSF's Research and Related Activities account would be augmented by $867 million in FY 2025. All research directorates would see growth in their funding compared to FY 2023 (Note: directorate- and program-level funding numbers are not currently available for FY 2024):

Biological Sciences (BIO) Directorate: $863 million (+2 percent)
Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate: $1.1 billion (+3 percent)
Engineering (ENG) Directorate: $808 million (+1 percent)
Geological Sciences (GEO) Directorate: $1.7 billion (+4.5 percent)
- Office of Polar Programs (now within GEO): $589 million (+10 percent)
Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) Directorate: $1.7 billion (+1 percent)
Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) Directorate: $320 million (+4 percent)
TIP Directorate: $900 million (+35 percent)
Office of International Science and Engineering: $68.4 million (flat)
Integrative Activities: $519 million (-2 percent)

In FY 2025, the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU) would operate at $1.3 billion, 11 percent above FY 2024. Within EDU, the Division of Undergraduate Education would see its budget grow by 13 percent, while the Division of Graduate Education would receive a 5 percent bump compared to FY 2023. Budget for the Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM would grow by 5 percent. The Graduate Research Fellowship Program within EDU, would receive a budget increase of 7 percent compared to FY 2023 to $341 million. Notably, it would support 2,300 new fellowships in FY 2025.

Budget for the NSF INCLUDES, renamed in the CHIPS & Science Act of 2022 as the Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Initiative, would expand by roughly 26 percent relative to FY 2023 to $37 million. This program supports education and career pathways to help build a diverse and skilled American STEM workforce. EDU would invest $9.5 million (+6 percent) in biotechnology through research and workforce development programs. The NSF Research Traineeship program would receive $60 million, roughly 1.5 percent more than it received in FY 2023.

The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account would receive $300 million in FY 2025, a 28 percent boost relative to FY 2024, to support two projects, including long-term upgrades of NSF's Antarctic infrastructure and Leadership-Class Computing Facility. Agency Operations and Award Management would receive a 12.5 percent boost, while support for the National Science Board would increase by 3 percent compared to FY 2024.

Among NSF's cross-cutting programs, the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network is slated to receive $31 million, same as FY 2023. The Research Experiences for Undergraduates program would receive nearly level funding of $80 million. However, support for Faculty early career development programs or CAREER grants would be cut by 4.5 percent relative to FY 2023 to $409 million.

Funding for the Biological Sciences Directorate

The FY 2025 request for BIO aligns with a number of Administration priorities, including "biotechnology to promote the bioeconomy, environmental forecasting and mitigating the impacts of global warming on essential ecosystem services, predicting and preventing the emergence of infectious diseases, and increasing racial equity and diversity across the STEM enterprise."

Within BIO, which provides about 65 percent of the federal funding for basic non-medical biological research at academic institutions, funding boosts would be allocated to each of its five divisions as follows (relative to FY 2023):

Biological Infrastructure (DBI): $230.4 million (+12 percent)
Environmental Biology: $163 million (-3 percent)
Integrative Organismal Systems: $188 million (-3 percent)
Molecular and Cellular Biosciences: $141.2 million (-3 percent)
Emerging Frontiers: $140 million (+6 percent)

BIO would continue investments in the new agency-wide program called BioFoundries to foster innovation in biotechnology, bioengineering, and biomanufacturing." BIO will also continue to support "building and broadening the biological sciences workforce" through its postdoctoral fellowships, the Building Research Capacity of New Faculty in Biology (BRC-BIO) program, the Research and Mentoring for Post baccalaureates in Biological Sciences (RaMP) program, and its Leading Culture Change through Professional Societies of Biology (BIO-LEAPS) program.

Increased investments of $155 million (+$7 million relative to FY 2023) are proposed within BIO to support biotechnology initiatives to promote the bioeconomy. Other research directorates will work together with BIO to make investments in biotechnology, including ENG ($96 million), GEO ($10.5 million), CISE ($8.5 million), MPS ($67 million), SBE ($1.6 million), and TIP ($70 million). Overall, NSF proposes making an investment of $421 million (+9 percent relative to FY 2023) in biotechnology in FY 2025.

BIO would once again prioritize investments in climate change, by increasing support for clean energy technology research by 4.5 percent and the U.S. Global Change Research Program by 14 percent compared to FY 2023. Other major BIO investments include advanced manufacturing ($7.5 million), artificial intelligence ($21 million), quantum information sciences ($3.4 million), and improving undergraduate STEM education ($1.5 million).

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) would receive $82 million through DBI, an increase of roughly $10 million above FY 2023.

BIO also proposes to increase investments in synthesis centers focused on "integration and reuse of existing data to create new knowledge that will fuel advances in both basic and use inspired research across all scales of biological organization." $9.5 million is requested for Centers for Analysis and Synthesis within DBI, an increase of $7 million over FY 2023. This includes $5 million in continued support for a new center in environmental science that will leverage data being provided by NEON, LTER, and other environmental observatories and databases to support community efforts in ecological modeling and eco-forecasting.

The Biology Integration Institutes (BIIs) program, which supports collaborative research on frontier questions about life that span multiple disciplines within and beyond biology, would be funded at $45.2 million (+28 percent relative to FY 2023). This request would support up to 18 BIIs in total, an addition of 4 institutes to the existing 14.

USGS Budget Slated to Grow by 8 Percent

President Biden has proposed to fund the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at $1.6 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2025, an increase of $123 million or 8.4 percent compared to FY 2024. Funding increases are proposed for USGS programs across the board, with priority given to climate research and science focused on protecting human health and safety.

The Ecosystems Mission Area--the primary biological research arm of the Department of the Interior--provides the science needed to achieve sustainable management and conservation of biological resources in wild and urban spaces. The Ecosystems account would be augmented by $27 million or 9 percent to $326 million. The USGS proposes to separate the Land Change Science Program and the National & Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers--currently combined into a single program with Ecosystems--into two independent programs. Additionally, the Land Change Science Program would be renamed to Ecosystems Change Research Program and would be funded at $22.2 million, a nearly 13 percent increase compared to FY 2024.

Budget for the National & Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers would grow by 10 percent to $69.3 million. The Climate Adaptation Science Centers are responsible for developing the science and tools to address the effects of climate change on land, water, wildlife, fish, ecosystems, and communities. Within this account, $1.4 million is set aside for the National Nature Assessment (NNA), a comprehensive attempt to assess, across the U.S., the current state of nature, to understand the future of nature, and to identify approaches to adaptation and mitigation.

Other programs within Ecosystems would also see budget increases relative to FY 2024:

The Environmental Health program, which includes contaminant biology and toxic substances hydrology research, would receive an 8.5 percent boost.
Species management research would grow by 7 percent.
Biological threats and invasive species research would receive a 2 percent bump.
Land management research would be augmented by 16.5 percent, with $3.5 million to support wildlife migration corridor mapping for big game populations.
The 43 Cooperative Research Units (CRUs), which are located in 41 states, would see their budgets grow by nearly 6 percent to $29.8 million. The CRUs allow USGS to leverage research and technical expertise affiliated with these universities to conduct research, provide technical assistance, and develop scientific workforces through graduate education and mentoring programs.

Other mission areas are also slated for budget increases. Water Resources would receive a 7 percent increase to $310 million, with water use and availability science program seeing a 22 percent boost. However, the request terminates funding for the $15.5 million Water Resources Research Act program. Support for Natural Hazards would increase by 6 percent. This includes programs to monitor earthquakes (+2 percent), volcanoes (+6 percent), and coastal and marine hazards (+17 percent).

Core Science Systems is slated to receive $313 million in FY 2025, a 15 percent boost. After receiving a $5.5 million cut in FY 2024, the Science Synthesis, Analysis, and Research (SSAR) Program would grow by $11.7 million (47 percent) to $37 million in FY 2025. The request for SSAR includes $2.5 million to lead the development of the Administration's American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas, a tool that will enable science to inform conservation for the America the Beautiful initiative. The Atlas will support conservation, stewardship, and restoration activities and provide the data needed to achieve the Administration's goal of conserving 30 percent of America's lands and waters by 2030. The plan would provide $144 million (+25 percent) for the National Land Imaging Program within Core Science Systems, including $110 million to support satellite operations and an increase of $12 million to support the development of Landsat Next.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Mission Area is looking at a significant increase of 19 percent. Science Support programs at USGS would receive a 13 percent increase, while the Facilities account would shrink by 2 percent.

National Science Board Releases State of U. S. Science and Engineering Report

According to a new report from the National Science Board (NSB)--the governing body of the National Science Foundation (NSF) --the United States continues to spend more on research and development (R&D) than any other country but is facing an "accelerating STEM talent crisis."

The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2024 report summarizes the nine thematic reports that make up the Science and Engineering Indicators, a biennial congressionally mandated report that provides information about the state of the U.S. science and engineering (S&E) enterprise over time and within a global context. The report is prepared by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) under the guidance of NSB.

Below are some key findings from the report:

The U.S. leads global R&D spending, with $806 billion in 2021, but China is catching up, investing $668 billion. Other top R&D-performing countries include Japan ($177 billion), Germany ($154 billion), and South Korea ($120 billion).
In 2021, the U.S. ranked among the most R&D-intensive economies globally, allocating 3.5% of its gross domestic product towards R&D expenditures.
Federal funding for R&D has decreased as a share of total R&D spending due to significant growth in business-funded R&D. The business sector now funds 36% of basic research, close to the 40% share of basic research funded by the federal government.
The federal government is the largest supporter of academic R&D and funds over half of all R&D performed by higher education institutions.
Enrollment of international S&E graduate students at U.S. institutions has risen sharply since 2020, reaching nearly 310,000 in 2022.
The U.S. STEM workforce consists of 36.8 million individuals, comprising 24% of the total U.S. workforce, with just over half lacking bachelor's degrees or higher.
Foreign-born individuals made up 19% of all U.S. STEM workers and 43% of doctorate-level scientists and engineers.
Women are underrepresented in engineering and computer sciences, accounting for only 35% of all STEM workers in 2021.
Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, and American Indian or Alaska Native individuals are also underrepresented among S&E degree recipients and STEM workers.
Global science, technology, and innovation capabilities (S&E research publications, patenting, and knowledge- and technology-intensive industry output) are concentrated in the U.S., East and Southeast Asia, and Europe, with China significantly increasing its share over the past decade. China now produces the largest number of S&E publications and international patents.

"For the past decade...the [NSB] has sounded the alarm as the U.S.'s lead has eroded on more and more global [S&E] metrics," reads a statement from the NSB. "As Indicators 2024 shows, China has now surpassed us in STEM talent production, research publications, patents, and knowledge-and technology-intensive manufacturing." The NSB also emphasized that every year that the U.S. does not meet the ambitious funding targets set by the CHIPS & Science Act "is a year that we cede more ground to our global competitors, endangering U.S. national security and economic prosperity." Congress recently provided NSF with $9 billion in FY 2024, $6.6 billion less than the target set by the CHIPS and Science Act.

In an accompanying policy brief, the NSB argues that U.S. is facing a STEM "talent crisis" partly due to the underperformance of the U.S. pre-K-12 education system compared to many peer nations. Additionally, they suggest that the nation's overreliance on STEM workers from China and India is a vulnerability. To address this, they propose increasing efforts to grow the domestic STEM workforce, while also implementing policies to attract and retain STEM talent from around the globe.

Science Coalition Requests $11.9 Billion for NSF in FY 2025

The Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), of which AIBS is a member, has called on House and Senate appropriators to provide at least $11.9 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF) in fiscal year (FY) 2025.

Then House and Senate letters read, in part: "NSF funding is critical to ensure our innovation ecosystem continues to lead the world in the emerging technologies that are key to our national defense. In 2022, Congress reauthorized NSF for 5 years through the CHIPS and Science Act (P.L. 117-167), and targeted $16.7 billion for the agency in FY25. We understand the difficult fiscal climate. However, the FY24 level of funding for NSF fell far below our competitiveness needs. In fact, the agency was cut by more than 5 percent or almost $500 million from what NSF was provided in FY23. If you consider what was provided in FY23 through supplemental funding, the cut is even more significant."

Short Takes

Asmeret Berhe, the head of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science, will be stepping down from her position on March 28, after serving for nearly two years. Dr. Berhe will return to University of California, Merced, where she is a professor of soil biogeochemistry. She has been known for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts at DOE, including implementing an initiative requiring grant applications to provide plans on how their research projects advance DEI. She also oversaw the implementation of new workforce diversity programs RENEW and FAIR. Harriet Kung, Deputy Director for Science Programs at DOE, will temporarily assume Berhe's responsibilities in an acting capacity.
A new report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) suggests that the U.S. is losing wetlands at an accelerated pace and that this will likely continue unless significant conservation efforts are implemented. As of 2019, wetlands covered less than 6 percent of the lower 48 states, representing roughly half the area they once covered. The rate of loss increased by 50 percent in the decade following 2009. USFWS Director Martha Williams emphasized that wetland loss negatively impacts the health, safety, and prosperity of Americans, calling for urgent action to reverse this trend. The report, part of a longstanding series mandated by Congress every 10 years, identified 116.4 million acres of remaining wetlands, with the majority being freshwater.
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) has announced that she will step down from her leadership position early, once leaders pick a replacement. Granger had already announced that she would be retiring at the end of the term. In a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), she stated that she wanted to "ensure a seamless transition before [fiscal year 2025 spending] bill development begins in earnest." The role could be filled by one of the Appropriations subcommittee chairs, including Representatives Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Mike Simpson (R-ID), Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), or Tom Cole (R-OK).

From the Federal Register

The following items appeared in the Federal Register from March 11 to 22, 2024.

Agency or International Development

Information Collection Request; 60-Day Notice and Request for Comments, Data Collection Form for the USAID Science Champion Award for International Science and Engineering Fair-Affiliated Fairs

Commerce

Energy

Health and Human Services

Interior

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Conference of the Parties, Twentieth Regular Meeting; Request for Information and Recommendations on Species Proposals, Resolutions, Decisions, and Agenda Items

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA Advisory Council; Science Committee; Meeting