The U.S. Science Budget
See below for Latest Budget 2012 stories
Coverage follows of President Obama's 2012 budget request to Congress, released 14 February 2011. The table, which will be updated continually, tracks recent budgets, including the current House proposal for the rest of the 2011 fiscal year. Click icons to the left of agencies to reveal specific programs. Send suggestions/corrections to news-info@aaas.org. Chart last updated on 18 April, 2011.
What's Happening at Selected Research Agencies
Numbers are in millions of dollars
| Agency | Program | 2012 request >> | 2011 request >> | 2010 enacted >> | Stimulus funds >> | Final 2011 CR >> | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | NIH | $31,829 | $32,090 | $31,008 | $10,400 | $30,686 | |
| DOE | 29,547 | 28,353 | 26,494 | 33,720 | 25,593 | |
| Office of Science >> Biggest federal funder of physical science | 5416 | 5121 | 4904 | 1669 | 4874 | ||
| ARPA Energy >> Steve Chu's blue sky energy research arm | 550 | 300 | 0 | 400 | 176 | ||
| Innovation Hubs >> These new multidisciplinary research centers have been key elements of Obama's energy research strategy | 146 | 107 | 75 | ||||
| NSF | 7767 | 7370 | 6872 | 2401 | 6807 | |
| Research >> The six research directorates, including cross-disciplinary activities | 6253 | 5965 | 5564 | 2062 | 5511 | ||
| Education >> The education directorate, including K-12 education, fellowships, and traineeships | 911 | 892 | 873 | 85 | 861 | ||
| NOAA | 5498 | 5552 | 4853 | 0 | 4511 | |
| NASA | 18,724 | 19,000 | 18,725 | 1002 | 18,450 | |
| Space science | 5017 | 5005 | 4493 | 400 | 4935 | ||
| NIST | 1101 | 919 | 856 | 610 | 750 | |
| NIST labs >> The National Institute of Standards and Technology is a Commerce department physical science lab | 679 | 585 | 515 | 220 | 507 | ||
| Tech Innovation Program >> This program, which conducts research in partnership with companies, is controversial among conservatives who call it "corporate welfare" | 75 | 80 | 70 | 0 | 45 | ||
| USDA | 23,879 | 28,642 | 27,032 | 27,395 | ||
| NIFA >> (research and education) | 708 | 839 | 788 | 0 | 699 | ||
| AFRI >> (competitive grants) | 325 | 429 | 262 | 0 | 260 | ||
| EPA | 9986 | 10,020 | 10,298 | 7131 | 8812 | |
| S&T | 826 | 847 | 848 | 813 | |||
| GLRI >> (Great Lakes) | 350 | 300 | 475 | ||||
| USGS | 1118 | 1133 | 1112 | 140 | 1084 | |
| State Department | 4700 | |||||
| Global Health Initiative >> This is a multiagency fund that includes treatment and research | 9784 | 9575 | 8909 | ||||
| FDA | 4360 | 4032 | 3280 | 3648 | ||
| CDC | 5893 | 6342 | 6467 | 300 | 5649 | |
| DoD | ||||||
| DoD 6.1 research | 2078 | 1998 | 1815 | 0 | 1947 | ||
| DARPA >> The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is the Pentagon's blue-sky research arm | 2984 | 3103 | 3248 | 0 |
SOURCE: Congress, OMB, individual agencies
Latest U.S. Science Budget stories:
November 18, 2011 1:08 PM
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More From the 'Minibus': USDA, NIST Research Programs Survive Rough Ride in New Spending Bill
Both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives yesterday approved a package of spending bills that include money for a range of science programs and President Barack Obama is...
November 15, 2011 5:46 PM
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Congress Slashes Budget of White House Science Office
First words, then deeds. Frustrated that White House officials have ignored congressional language curtailing scientific collaborations with China, legislators have decided to get their attention through a 32% cut...
November 15, 2011 12:44 PM
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NOAA Environmental Satellites Win Funding
Congress has apparently decided to allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to move ahead with a troubled new Earth-observing satellite system, but at the cost of cuts...
November 15, 2011 12:31 PM
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NSF Slated for a 2.5% Boost in 2012 Budget
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is due to receive a surprising 2.5% increase in its 2012 budget. That good news came from a conference report filed last night for...
Congress to Keep Funding NASA's Webb Telescope
Congress appears to have preserved funding for the James Webb Space Telescope. Last night lawmakers from both the House of Representatives and the Senate issued a final spending bill...
October 17, 2011 6:11 PM
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Super Science Suggestions: House Panel Lays Out Spending Preferences
The Republican leaders of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology have some suggestions on where to cut $1.5 billion from the fiscal year 2012 research...
September 29, 2011 4:38 PM
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NIH's 2012 Budget Would Get 3.3% Boost in House Bill
A House of Representatives panel released a 2012 draft spending bill today with surprisingly good news for the National Institutes of Health (NIH): The agency's budget would rise $1 billion...
September 23, 2011 2:57 PM
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NIH Chided on Translational Center, Warned of More Budget Cuts
A Senate spending panel has praised a new translational center at the National Institutes of Health but scolded NIH officials for how it was created. The language accompanies the...
September 20, 2011 5:11 PM
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Senate Panel Trims NIH Budget By $190 Million
A Senate panel today approved a 2012 spending bill that would slightly trim the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), cutting it by $190 million to $30.5...
September 16, 2011 3:04 PM
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Senate Plan Gives NSF a Choice on Facilities vs. Research
A Senate proposal that would reduce next year's budget for the National Science Foundation (NSF) by $162 million includes unprecedented flexibility for the agency to decide how best to...
September 14, 2011 5:28 PM
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Hope, With 'Stringent' Orders, for NASA's Webb Telescope
In July, the U.S. House of Representatives cancelled the over-budget and behind-schedule James Webb Space Telescope, sinking the hearts of NASA officials and U.S. astronomers. Today, the U.S. Senate...
September 14, 2011 4:57 PM
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Senate Panel Cuts NSF Budget by $162 Million
"We've gone beyond frugality and are into austerity. … We didn't want to do this, but that's the way the world is." Those gloomy words, from Senator Barbara Mikuski...
Senate Budget Bill Holds Energy Department Science Level
Scientists usually howl like wounded puppies at the prospect of a flat budget for an important U.S. science agency. But given the budget-cutting mood of the current Congress, scientists...
Webb Telescope Delayed, Costs Rise to $8 Billion
It's hardly the most opportune time to announce a huge cost overrun for a major science facility. But last week NASA told Congress that its proposed successor to Hubble,...
August 17, 2011 3:55 PM
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FDA Hones Its Regulatory Science Plans
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today released a fleshed-out version of a road map it put out last fall on how to bolster regulatory science at the...
August 2, 2011 5:45 PM
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A First Look at the Debt Agreement and U.S. Research
The legislation President Barack Obama signed today to avert a government default offers few details on how the United States will achieve a now-mandated $917-billion cut to discretionary spending...
July 21, 2011 3:04 PM
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Using Nuclear Fuel for Future NASA Missions Gets Boost
The Obama Administration's plan to resume domestic production of the nuclear material needed to power future space missions has won its first, partial victory in Congress. Last week, the...
July 12, 2011 4:27 PM
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House Spending Panel Punishes OSTP Over Links to China
Bad things can happen to federal agencies when they cross swords with their budget overlords in Congress. The latest example of that political adage comes in the 2012 spending...
July 8, 2011 4:00 PM
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Wolf Says No-Growth Budget is Good News for NSF—and Lobbyists Agree
Zero is starting to look like a pretty nice number to some U.S. scientists. Yesterday, a congressional spending subcommittee proposed holding next year's budget for the National Science Foundation...
July 6, 2011 4:28 PM
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House Budget Panel Wants to Cut Oceans Agency by $103 Million
The draft of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee's 2012 budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calls for a $103 million cut below current spending of...
July 6, 2011 3:53 PM
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House Spending Panel Flatlines NSF, Squeezes New Facilities
The National Science Foundation (NSF) would receive no increase in 2012 under a spending plan unveiled today by the U.S. House of Representatives' panel that funds several science agencies....
House Spending Panel Wants to Kill Webb Telescope
A draft bill before a spending panel in the U.S. House of Representatives would eliminate funding for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a flagship instrument that NASA wants...
June 24, 2011 4:19 PM
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House Science Panel Spars With Lubchenco Over Climate Service
The science committee of the U.S. House of Representatives this week criticized steps that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has taken to create a National Climate Service,...
Underground Physics Lab to Cost U.S. Energy Department at Least $1.2 Billion
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND—Physics fans, hold your breath: An underground lab that's absolutely vital to the future of particle physics in the United States will cost the Department of Energy (DOE)...
June 23, 2011 5:56 PM
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U.S. Patent Reform Survives a Shakedown in the House
A plan to make sweeping changes in the U.S. patent system passed the House of Representatives this afternoon by a vote of 304-117. The bill initially ran into trouble...
Earmarked Research By Any Other Name
Walter Pincus of The Washington Post illustrates today how members of the House of Representatives have proposed "programmatic requests" to sidestep the ban on earmarks in the 2012 military...
House Panel Tells Energy Department to Cull Underperforming Research Grants
First, the silver lining for scientists: When the spending panel for the House of Representatives sliced $6 billion from the $30.7 billion budget requested for 2012 by the Department...
House Trims Homeland Security Science Spending
Next year's budget for science and technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would be drastically downsized under a spending bill passed yesterday by the House of...
June 3, 2011 11:35 AM
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Social Sciences Face Uphill Battle Proving Their Worth to Congress
Anyone attending yesterday's congressional hearing on funding the social, behavioral, and economic (SBE) sciences at the National Science Foundation is likely to have come away thinking that NSF had...
May 26, 2011 5:22 PM
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Senator's Criticism of Science Foundation Draws Fire
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has long railed against wasteful government spending and urged his colleagues to shrink the federal budget. His latest salvo is a 73-page report released today...
Chu Calls NSF's Decision to Abandon DUSEL 'Disappointing'
Energy Secretary Steven Chu says that he's "very disappointed" with the National Science Foundation (NSF) for pulling out of a planned $875-million underground science lab in South Dakota. In...
Holdren's Response to Ban on China Science Partnerships Draws GOP Ire
The Obama Administration has carved out a loophole in the recent congressional ban on scientific interactions with China that would permit most activities between the two countries to continue....
April 26, 2011 4:51 PM
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NIH Trims Grants in Wake of Budget Cuts
U.S. biomedical researchers will need to tighten their belts as a result of the 1% drop in the National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) 2011 budget that became law 2...
April 21, 2011 2:04 PM
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Spending Bill Prohibits U.S.-China Collaborations
A little-noticed clause in the 2011 spending bill signed into law last week cuts off funding for a host of scientific exchanges between the United States and China. Representative...
April 15, 2011 10:00 AM
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Federal Funds for Climate Panel Saved, But Foe Plans New Assault
The U.S. government will be able to continue supporting the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change after language banning those contributions was dropped from the compromise spending bill for 2011....
April 12, 2011 6:10 PM
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Budget Battle Leaves Applied Energy Research Relatively Unscathed
How did energy research do in the 2011 budget negotiations? Depends on what flavor you prefer. The Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs did relatively well. Its...
Energy Department's National Labs Avoid Major Disruptions
Since early February, scientists supported by the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Science have been bracing for massive layoffs at the department's 10 national laboratories and the temporary...
April 12, 2011 5:16 PM
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As Congress Slashes EPA Budget, Research Least Harmed
Science and technology at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be sliced 3.9%, to $815 million, under the new budget for FY 2011. That's a deeper cut than at...
April 12, 2011 4:34 PM
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NSF Gets 1% Trim in 2011, but New Budget Battle Looms
The figure may be $563 million below its 2011 request, and a cool $1 billion south of where the Obama Administration wants the National Science Foundation's budget to be...
NASA Science Budget Holds Steady
In Congressional hearings over the past few weeks, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has warned lawmakers that the space agency would have to scale back its plans for exploration and...
April 12, 2011 12:55 PM
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2011 Spending Deal Spares NIH Major Cuts
Just as White House officials promised over the weekend, the 2011 funding bill agreed to by Congress and the White House last Friday spares biomedical research from major cuts....
April 12, 2011 11:22 AM
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Research Survives in 2011 Budget After Earlier Scare
Whew. That's what officials at U.S. science agencies and science lobbyists are saying this morning after learning the details of the weekend agreement between the White House and Congress...
April 5, 2011 2:40 PM
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NIH's 'Secret Plans' for a Government Shutdown
With a possible government shutdown only a few days away, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) appears to be ready to send in a skeleton staff to care for...
March 31, 2011 1:52 PM
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Energy Expert Annotates Obama's Energy Speech
President Barack Obama's speech to Georgetown University on energy policy, delivered yesterday, forges a new direction on energy policy after big failures in his first two years to cut U.S....
March 23, 2011 1:43 PM
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Congress and Science Education: Wolf Berates NSF on Overdue Report
A long-overdue report on U.S. science education has put the National Science Foundation (NSF) in hot water with an influential legislator. The issue boiled over earlier this month at a...
NASA Satellite Crash Complicates Gloomy Climate Budget Picture
Last week's failed mission to place the $424 million Glory satellite into orbit doesn't just stymie scientists' efforts to maintain a 33-year record of the sun's brightness and discern...
Cost-Cutting Recommended for Planetary Science, With More Cutting to Come
HOUSTON, TEXAS--A committee of the National Research Council is insisting that the cost of two of the largest planetary missions it is recommending for NASA in the coming decade...
March 7, 2011 11:50 AM
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More Details on Pending Senate Spending Bill
Over the weekend, the Senate released more details about its proposal to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year that was reported on Friday. Although there is...
March 4, 2011 4:50 PM
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Senate Panel Proposes Smaller Cuts to Science Agencies Than House
Senate Democrats unveiled a plan today to trim federal spending for the rest of the fiscal year that takes smaller bites out of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of...
March 4, 2011 3:09 PM
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Bolden Defends NASA's Earth Science Missions
Should NASA have anything to with studying Earth? NASA Administrator Charles Bolden found himself having to explain that to lawmakers yesterday at a hearing by the House of Representatives on...
March 2, 2011 12:29 PM
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Two-Week Spending Extension Averts Shutdown
Congress has averted a government shutdown on 4 March by approving a temporary spending bill today that funds federal agencies for another 2 weeks. The extension of the so-called continuing...
February 22, 2011 5:37 PM
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NSF and Energy Department Agree to Keep Pumps on for Underground Lab Site
A plan to convert an abandoned gold mine in the Black Hills of South Dakota into the world's largest underground laboratory remains afloat, but just barely. The National Science...
February 19, 2011 4:09 PM
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Scientists Criticize House Vote to Bar Climate Panel Funds
Last night the U.S. House of Representatives agreed to cut off funding for the rest of 2011 for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “My constituents should not have to...
February 18, 2011 11:30 AM
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War and Peace Over Holdren's Climate Testimony
A fleeting peace broke out yesterday on Capitol Hill over the contentious issue of climate change. For a few minutes it looked like a détente had been reached between...
DOE's Chu Says Proposed House Cuts Could Trigger Brain Drain
Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned today that proposed cuts to energy research as part of a spending plan by House of Representatives Republicans for the rest of 2011 could...
February 15, 2011 6:20 PM
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Proposed Rise for Oceans' Agency Budget as Satellite Costs Mount
Although 2012 budget documents for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) are still being vetted by the Department of Commerce and the White House, the big picture has...
February 15, 2011 8:10 AM
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Will Obama's SunShot Initiative See the Light of Day?
Applied and basic energy research was proposed to receive big increases in the 2012 budget released today. Underscoring the nearly exalted status of energy research in a budget that...
February 14, 2011 9:25 PM
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White House Proposes Modest Funding Increase for Global Health Programs
In the face of a Republican-led effort to slash funding for global health programs, the Obama Administration proposed budget for 2012 calls for slightly increasing the investment on its Global...
February 14, 2011 6:50 PM
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Energy Science: Obama's Darling, Congress's Target
It's a comforting idea for many scientists but may prove to be only a fantasy: The Obama Administration has requested a healthy increase for the Department of Energy's (DOE's)...
February 14, 2011 6:24 PM
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In 2012 Drama, Science an Early Budget Winner ... But Fight Has Just Begun
Do big proposed increases for science in today's budget mean Obama cares more about it than other programs, like support for the needy? On today's 2012 budget request to...
February 14, 2011 5:51 PM
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EPA Research Would Be Cut—But Not As Much as Other Programs
A steady rise in research funding at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the Obama Administration would come to an end in the FY 2012 budget, according to the...
February 14, 2011 5:46 PM
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NIST Picked for Healthy Increase to Support Advanced Manufacturing and Measurement Research
If you want to see budget fireworks in the coming months, keep your eye on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This lesser known science agency has...
February 14, 2011 5:45 PM
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FDA's Expanded Mandate in Limbo
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could get a big budget boost this year, with the president requesting $4.3 billion, more than a third of it from regulatory...
February 14, 2011 5:37 PM
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In Budget Drought, USDA Aims to Fertilize Competitive Grants
Lean times won't stunt the peer-reviewed research grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, if Congress grants the Obama Administration's request for its FY 2012 budget. Although the...
Climate Science, Asteroid Detection Big Winners in NASA Budget
NASA will have to live with a stagnant budget—again. The $18.7 billion proposed by the Administration is the same amount as 2010 and 2011, and science funding would continue...
February 14, 2011 5:11 PM
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President Would Give NIH Slight 2.4% Boost in 2012
The president's budget would give the National Institutes of Health (NIH) a modest 2.4% raise in 2012 of $745 million over the 2010 level, bringing the total to $31.8...
February 14, 2011 5:11 PM
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CDC's Pinched Budget Focuses on Chronic Disease Prevention
The purse strings are getting tighter at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has already seen budget drops in recent years. The agency's discretionary budget...
Energy Budget Slashes Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Research
What one hand giveth, the other taketh away. In the president's 2012 budget proposal released today, the Administration recommends spending $8 billion on "clean energy and technology programs." But...
February 14, 2011 3:56 PM
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Smithsonian 'Grand Challenges' Move Ahead in Slow Motion
The Smithsonian Institution fares well under President Barack Obama's proposed budget for 2012, but it won't be moving forward very fast on its scientific grand challenges, part of a...
February 14, 2011 12:51 PM
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NSF Budget Would Grow by 13%, Adding Science and Education Programs
The National Science Foundation (NSF) would receive a 13% increase in President Barack Obama's 2012 budget, to $7.77 billion. That huge jump in the document that Obama submitted today...
February 14, 2011 9:28 AM
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House Spending Panel Makes Deep Cuts to Research
The appropriations committee in the House of Representatives has proposed cutting $62 billion from current spending across the government, including large reductions at the three leading agencies funding basic...
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