U.S. Budget Deal - Preliminary AAAS Observations

Joanne Carney, director of the AAAS Office of Government Relations, offered the following observations Monday, Aug. 1, 2011, regarding the preliminary U.S. debt-limit agreement:

"Federally funded U.S. research and development in the out years--a vital driver of innovation, new enterprise and long-term economic progress--unfortunately remains at risk following the preliminary debt-limit agreement reached by President Barack Obama and congressional leaders Sunday, July 31. Strong support for U.S. science, engineering, and higher education organizations remains essential, particularly as the recovering economy remains fragile.

That agreement, as posted on the House Rules Committee website Monday, caps FY 2012 discretionary spending at $1.043 trillion, $23 billion more than the House budget resolution, but $73 billion less than the President's request. The agreement specifies non-security and security spending caps for FY 2012 and FY 2013, both increasing by just $2 billion for FY 2013.

Thus, for the short term, the compromise will allow for more discretionary spending than is currently being considered in the House appropriations bills, which, while good news, would still need to be amended and voted on to reflect any additional increases. However, the small overall spending increase for FY 2013 will further stress the agency's R&D investments going into next year.

In the long term, the budget cap increases of less than 2.3% each year will continue to put additional pressure on agency budgets as they struggle to keep pace with inflation and could result in a real decrease in R&D investment for the foreseeable future."

- Joanne Carney, director, AAAS Office of Government Relations