President's FY15 Science and Technology R&D Budget Released
The White House released the President's FY15 Science and Technololgy Research and Development Budget today. Below are some excerpts of interest to the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science community:
'...The Budget invests in research and development (R&D) to spur the kinds of discovery and breakthroughs that can fuel sustainable economic growth and job creation; improve the health of all Americans; move America toward a clean-energy future; address global climate change; manage competing demands on natural resources; and ensure the Nation’s security. To accomplish these goals, the President’s 2015 Budget proposes $135.4 billion for Federal R&D (see Table 1), an increase of $1.7 billion or 1.2 percent from 2014. (All comparisons are to 2014 enacted funding levels and are in current, not-adjusted-for-inflation dollars.) The 2015 Budget:
Improves Our Understanding of and Response to Global Climate Change. The 2015 Budget proposes approximately $2.5 billion for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) to support research to improve our ability to understand, assess, predict, and respond to global climate change (see Table 2). USGCRP investments support the President’s Climate Action Plan. Additional climate investments, including $1 billion for a new Climate Resilience Fund, are proposed in the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative.'...*
'...Sustains a World-Leading Science and Research Enterprise. To meet America’s challenges, including those related to the economy, manufacturing, health, energy, climate, environment, and national security, the 2015 Budget calls for a Federal basic and applied research investment totaling $64.7 billion, up $251 million or 0.4 percent compared to the 2014 enacted level. The Budget includes $7.3 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and $5.1 billion for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science....'
Specific to NASA: 'The Budget provides $1.8 billion for Earth Science to maintain progress toward important satellite missions, support climate research, and sustain vital space-based Earth observations.'...
Specific to USDA: 'R&D in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) increases $29 million or 1.2 percent to $2.4 billion in the 2015 Budget to support research in areas important to American agriculture such as climate resilience and advanced genetics. The Budget increases funding to $325 million for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) key competitive research program.'....
* 'U.S. Global Change Research Program: The 2015 Budget provides approximately $2.5 billion for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)...The 2015 Budget supports the goals set forth in USGCRP’s 2012-2021 strategic plan, which include: advancing scientific knowledge of the integrated natural and human components of the Earth system; providing the scientific basis to inform and enable timely decisions on adaptation and mitigation; building sustained assessment capacity that improves the United States’ ability to document changes on the regional, landscape, and local level in order to understand, anticipate, and respond to global change impacts and vulnerabilities; and advancing communications and education to broaden public understanding of global change. The 2015 Budget also supports an integrated suite of climate change observations; process-based research; and modeling, assessment, and adaptation science activities that serve as a foundation for providing timely and responsive information—including technical reports, impact and vulnerability assessments, and adaptation response strategies to a broad array of stakeholders. All of these activities are essential elements of the USGCRP 2012-2021 strategic plan and support the President's Climate Action Plan.' Budget factsheet
