Science Budget Proposals Coming into Focus

House Republicans revealed many of their topline budget proposals for non-defense science agencies last week and plan to release the detailed figures after Congress returns from its Fourth of July recess. Their draft appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2025 proposes slight increases for some agencies, including a 1.8% increase for the Department of Energy Office of Science, a 2.2% increase for the National Science Foundation, and a 1.1% increase for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (after subtracting the large amount of earmarks included in NIST’s budget). Meanwhile, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate would remain flat and the U.S. Geological Survey would see a 5.6% cut.

All of these amounts are well below those requested by the Biden administration. They also would follow the significant cuts Congress made to these agencies for fiscal year 2024 with the exception of the DOE Office of Science, which received a 1.7% increase. The amounts reflect the tight budget caps Congress has set for these two budget cycles.

Defense science agencies are also in line for belt-tightening. Total funding for the Department of Defense’s early-stage research programs would be cut by 11% under the legislation the House sent to the Senate last week. The Biden administration proposed a steeper cut of 20%.

House Democrats have generally opposed the appropriations legislation advanced so far this year, in part because the bills contain various controversial policy provisions such as broad restrictions on diversity initiatives across agencies. Similar proposals advanced by Republicans last year were removed or scaled back in the final versions of the legislation.

The Senate has not yet released any of its budget proposals. Details on the Senate and House proposals will be collected in FYI’s Federal Science Budget Tracker as they become available.

ITER to Explain Major Delays to Construction Schedule

The multinational ITER fusion facility under construction in France is preparing to update the project’s baseline schedule to account for major delays caused by the pandemic and technical challenges encountered with certain machine components. ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi will hold a press conference on Wednesday to explain a new baseline schedule the facility proposed to its governing council, which will meet in November to consider the plans further.

The current baseline, established in 2016, projected that ITER would first turn on in 2025, a milestone known as “first plasma,” and in 2035 would advance to full operations that use deuterium-tritium fuel to generate more power than the facility consumes. ITER announced earlier this month that the proposed new baseline would aim to have the facility begin deuterium-only operations in 2035. The announcement did not indicate a target date for deuterium-tritium operations or for the “first plasma.” Under the 2016 baseline plan, the first plasma phase was to be followed by a two-year pause to install additional components before the deuterium-only operations began.

Also On Our Radar

The Supreme Court’s overturning of the “Chevron Deference” doctrine is leading to calls for boosting scientific expertise in the judicial and legislative branches of government to compensate for the decreased role of agency interpretations of laws going forward.

The third International Conference on Science of Science and Innovation is underway in Washington through Wednesday.

The American Association of Physics Teachers’ summer meeting starts Saturday in Boston.

Artificial intelligence will be the focus of the AAAS’ annual S&T policy forum on July 12.

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Science Budget Proposals Coming into Focus

ITER to Explain Major Delays to Construction Schedule

Also On Our Radar

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