IP: Trends in Requests and Appropriations

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

FYI
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
Number 149: October 23, 1996


Request and Funding Trends for Selected Programs, FY 1995-97


Now that the 104th Congress has come and gone, it might be instructive to look
at how the funding for selected science and technology programs changed over
its two years.  Also shown are the changes in President Clinton's budget
requests for these programs over the same two-year period.  It is likely that
the 104th Congress's emphasis on balancing the federal budget had an effect on
the President's requests:  Clinton, challenged to produce his own plan for
ending the deficit, released a fiscal year 1997 budget request that was lower
than it might have been otherwise.


The percentage changes below were arrived at by first converting fiscal year
1995 figures to 1997 dollars using a GDP inflator (of 1.042) to adjust for
inflation.  Then the percent difference in the appropriation or request was
calculated from fiscal year 1995 (the last year of the Democratic 103rd
Congress) to fiscal year 1997 (the end of the Republican 104th Congress.)  The
percent difference in the request shows how the Administration's funding
intentions for each program changed over the two years; the percent difference
in appropriations shows how each program's budget actually changed over the
same time period.  Additionally, the programs are ranked by how well they did
for each column.


Agency/                  % Change in              % Change in 
Program                  Appropriations      Admin.'s Request
                         FY 1995-97               FY 1995-97


NSF Total                -  2.8%   (5)            -  0.3%  (6)
 Research & Related
    Activities*          +  3.7    (1)            +  1.0   (5)
 Education &
    Human Resources      -  2.0    (4)            +  4.3   (3)
    
NASA Total               -  8.5    (8)            -  7.4   (8)
 Human Space Flight      -  6.8    (7)            - 10.0   (9)
 Science, Aeronautics
    & Technology         -  6.3    (6)            -  4.7   (7)


DOE Total                - 13.5    (10)           - 15.4   (11)
 High Energy Physics     -  0.6    (3)            +  4.8   (2)
 Nuclear Physics         -  9.5    (9)            +  1.6   (4)
 Fusion Energy           - 40.2    (13)           - 34.2   (14)
 Basic Energy Sciences   - 16.5    (11)           - 15.4   (11)


NIST Total**             - 33.9    (12)           - 15.2   (10)
 Advanced Techno-
    logy Program         - 49.9    (14)           - 26.6   (13)
 Manufacturing Exten-
    sion Partnerships    + 0.6     (2)            + 64.8   (1)
 Core Laboratories       - 2.8     (5)            - 17.7   (12)


*For the first time, in FY 1997, both the request and the appropriation for
NSF's R&RA account included $50 million for Academic Research Infrastructure. 
Prior to this, ARI was a separate account.


**The FY1995 appropriations for NIST are pre-rescission figures.


###############
Audrey T. Leath
Public Information Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi () aip org
(301) 209-3094
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