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Budget Agreement Boosts US Science (sciencemag.org)

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.

sciencehabit writes: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) leads the way among U.S science agencies getting increases in the final 2016 spending bill released today. NIH is the winner in absolute dollars. It gets a bump of $2 billion, or 6.6%, from its current budget of $30.1 billion. Spending on science programs at NASA would grow by 6.6%, to $5.6 billion, and rise by 5.6% in the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Science, to $5.35 billion. The National Science Foundation would receive an additional $119 million, or 1.6%, to $7.46 billion, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy would get a 6% boost, to $291 million. NASA in particular got great allocations for planetary science and commercial crew.

9 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. Great! by MachineShedFred · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Now all they need to do is pass the thing. Does anyone know what kind of poison pill has been inserted yet, which will cause somebody to get off the boat and sink it? We all know there is one...

    It's a sad state when the budget process has been reduced to such cynicism, but here we are.

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    1. Re:Great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Now all they need to do is pass the thing. Does anyone know what kind of poison pill has been inserted yet, which will cause somebody to get off the boat and sink it? We all know there is one...

      They actually somewhat compromised, hoping Obama will sign the damn thing.

      Republicans gave up defunding Planned Parenthood.
      Democrats pulled out proposed additional gun control.
      Republicans gave in on not adding vetting for Syrian refugees.
      Possibly some others.

      Sounds like they actually want this passed.

      I'm sure it's full of pork, but aren't they all.

    2. Re:Great! by publiclurker · · Score: 2

      but we are all supposed to pay for the damage caused by sad little ammosexuals, right?

  2. This is agreed by Obama, Democrats and Republicans by raymorris · · Score: 4, Informative

    This budget has been agreed to by Obama and the Republican leadership in Congress, including Paul Ryan, and Congressional Democrats have expressed approval and talked about their "wins".

    Obama likes it because they put off paying for Obamacare another couple of years. The taxes on health insurance and medical equipment will be delayed until after the election and 2020, respectively.

  3. Re:This is agreed by Obama, Democrats and Republic by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Obama likes it because they put off paying for Obamacare another couple of years. The taxes on health insurance and medical equipment will be delayed until after the election and 2020, respectively.

    O has done a masterful job at delaying the biggest cost impacts.

  4. NIH increase == keep the lights on by damn_registrars · · Score: 4, Informative

    The NIH increase is not enough to add radical new initiatives. In fact, most funded researchers will be lucky if the increase even results in them getting their full requested budget. Many researchers will likely still see overall decreases, while their institutions will likely ask for more funds to cover expenses (such as electricity, gas, space, water, etc). It's better than nothing, but it's not really much of something, either.

    If we want to be a competitive nation in terms of scientific research we need to at least fund the NIH enough to meet operating expense increases so researchers can do work and get paid at (or slightly above, if their lucky) the levels of janitors.

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    1. Re:NIH increase == keep the lights on by Solandri · · Score: 2

      NIH got a massive budget increase under Bush, nearly doubling their budget. Obama has been more or less holding it constant (slight decrease) at that higher spending level (nearly half of all Federal research spending).

      If a decade after a huge budget increase, maintaining that level of high spending is considered "keeping the lights on," then it's no wonder we have a massive budget deficit. Perhaps NIH should have its budget reduced to Clinton-era levels for one year so they can once again appreciate just how much more money they've been receiving.

  5. Re:This is agreed by Obama, Democrats and Republic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Taxes on health insurance and medical care? Wtf.

    Tax the thing you are trying to make more affordable. Nice.

    Well, that all depends on who they're trying to make it affordable for.

    In this case, it's taking money from people who already had insurance to pay for those who didn't. That's why people who oppose Obamacare oppose it. It's a direct hit on the middle class, who are already carrying the majority of the tax burden.

    But tell people it's free health care and they want it.

  6. We'll need it by mdsolar · · Score: 2

    Congress is giving away all the oil to multinationals. https://www.washingtonpost.com...