LegiStorm

Summary:

President Obama's budget request for FY2017 included $152.333 billion for research and development (R&D), an increase of $6.195 billion (4.2%) over the estimated FY2016 enacted R&D funding level of $146.138 billion. Funding for R&D is concentrated in a few departments and agencies. Under President Obama's FY2017 budget request, seven federal agencies would have received 95.6% of total federal R&D funding, with the Department of Defense (47.8%) and the Department of Health and Human Services (21.5%) accounting for nearly 70% of all federal R&D funding. In dollars, the largest increases in agency R&D funding in President Obama's request would have gone to the Department of Energy (up $2.755 billion, 19.1%), the Department of Defense (up $1.953 billion, 2.8%), and the Department of Health and Human Services (up $772 million, 2.4%). President Obama's FY2017 request sought to continue support for a number of multiagency R&D initiatives: the National Nanotechnology Initiative, Networking and Information Technology Research and Development program, U.S. Global Change Research Program, Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative, Precision Medicine Initiative, Cancer Moonshot, Materials Genome Initiative, National Robotics Initiative, and National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. As of September 28, 2016, Congress had not completed action on any of the 12 regular appropriations bills for FY2017. The House Committee on Appropriations had reported all nine of the regular appropriations bills that provide R&D funding, and the House had passed three of them. The Senate Committee on Appropriations had reported all nine of the regular appropriations bills that provide R&D funding, and the Senate had passed three of them. On September 29, 2016, President Obama signed into law the Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act (P.L. 114-223). This act, among other things, provided full-year funding for military construction and the Department of Veteran's Affairs, as well as continuing appropriations for most federal agencies through December 9, 2016, at about 99.5% of FY2016 funding. On December 10, President Obama signed into law the Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017 (P.L. 114-254). Division A, Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2017, generally provides continuing appropriations for most federal agencies at 99.8% of FY2016 funding through April 28, 2017, subject to other provisions in the act, pending final action on the remaining 11 regular appropriations acts for FY2017. Division B, Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017, included additional funding for DOD RDT&E, designated by Congress as Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism funding. In May 2017, Congress enacted the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (P.L. 115-31). The act provides FY2017 funding for most federal agencies, except those already provided for in P.L. 114-223. Where possible, R&D funding provided under this act is identified in the following sections of this report. For some agencies, however, funding for R&D is included in appropriations line items that also include non-R&D activities; therefore, it is not possible to identify precisely how much of the funding provided in appropriations laws is allocated to R&D specifically. No further updates of this report are anticipated. Completion of the annual appropriations process after the start of the fiscal year and the use of continuing resolutions can affect agencies' execution of their R&D budgets, including the delay or cancellation of planned R&D activities and acquisition of R&D-related equipment.