Federal Support For R&D Funding Agencies Falls In Fiscal 1996

Abstract

The research community that depends on funding from the federal government is finding coal in its Christmas stocking this year. There will be no increase in federal research support in fiscal 1996 and little chance for any major or even minor increase in the near future. Two-and-a-half months into the current fiscal year, Congress and President Clinton have agreed on only seven of the 13 annual appropriations bills needed to keep the government up and running. At press time, another government shutdown was looming. The continuing resolution under which the government has been operating was set to expire Dec. 15. Most of the remaining six appropriations bills have been cleared by House- Senate conference committees, some more than once. However, the fiscal 1996 budget for the largest civilian supporter of R&D—the National Institutes of Health—is still unknown. The Senate hasn't yet voted on NIH's appropriations bill—the bill isn't even on the calendar for floor action. ...