The President's budget sought $142.773 billion for R&D in FY2014, a 1.3% increase (0.7% CAGR) over the actual FY2012 R&D funding level of $140.912 billion. Among its provisions, the R&D funding in the President's proposed FY2014 budget maintained an emphasis on increasing support for the physical sciences and engineering, an effort consistent with the intent of the America COMPETES Act ( P.L. These acts sought to achieve this objective by authorizing increased funding for accounts at three agencies with a strong R&D emphasis in these disciplines: the Department of Energy Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology's core laboratory research and R&D facilities construction funding (collectively referred to as the "targeted accounts"). Analysis of federal R&D funding is complicated by several factors, such as inconsistency among agencies in the reporting of R&D and the inclusion of R&D in accounts with non-R&D activities. Under President Obama's FY2014 budget request, seven federal agencies would have received 95.3% of total federal R&D funding: Department of Defense (DOD), 47.8%; Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (primarily the National Institutes of Health), 22.4%; Department of Energy (DOE), 8.9%; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 8.1%; National Science Foundation (NSF), 4.3%; Department of Commerce (DOC), 1.9%; and Department of Agriculture (USDA), 1.8%. The President's request for FY2014 included $73.2 billion in defense-related R&D funding, or about 51.2% of the total R&D request. Moreover, aggregate FY2012 funding for the targeted accounts was approximately $12.529 billion, $1.631 billion less than authorized in the act, setting a pace to double over 17 years from the FY2006 level—more than twice the length of time originally envisioned in the 2007 America COMPETES Act and more than half longer than the doubling period established by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010. 113-76 provides $12.950 billion in FY2014 funding for these accounts, an amount that sets a doubling pace of more than 20 years. In his FY2010 Plan for Science and Innovation, President Obama stated that he, like President Bush, would seek to double funding for basic research over 10 years (FY2006 to FY2016) at the ACI agencies. The President is requesting $1.704 billion for the NNI in FY2014, a reduction of $159 million (8.6%) from the FY2012 actual level of $1.863 billion. President Obama has requested $3.968 billion in FY2014 for the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program. President Obama has proposed $2.652 billion for the U.S. National Network for Manufacturing Innovation

The President's FY2014 budget once again proposes the establishment of a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) to promote the development of manufacturing technologies with broad applications. 113-76 ) states that "The agreement does not address the administration's proposal for National Network of Manufacturing Institutes (NNMI) because the NNMI legislative proposal has not been considered or approved by the Congress." Congress completed action on the FY2014 regular appropriations bills with enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 ( P.L. The act contains the 12 regular appropriations bills that fund all federal departments and agencies and provide funding for most research and development (R&D) supported by the federal government. Prior to enactment of P.L. 113-76 , FY2014 funding was provided by two continuing resolutions ( P.L. 113-6 ). The FY2014 NSF budget request also included funding for three multi-agency initiatives: National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI, $430.9 million), Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD, $1.227 billion), and U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP, $326.4 million). 113-76 , two continuing resolutions ( P.L. 113-46 and P.L. In January 2014, DOI provided detailed information to CRS on R&D funding levels proposed by the President for each of its agencies and for broad program areas as well as for agencies' allocations of FY2014 appropriations to R&D; these data were used for much of the analysis in this section. 113-46 and P.L. For these cases, funding levels will be included in future updates of this report as the information becomes available.
Congress completed action on the FY2014 regular appropriations bills with enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (P.L. 113-76), in January 2014. The act contains the 12 regular appropriations bills that fund federal departments and agencies and provide funding for most research and development (R&D) supported by the federal government. Prior to enactment of P.L. 113-76, FY2014 funding was provided by two continuing resolutions (P.L. 113-46 and P.L. 113-73). Where possible, CRS has identified and included in this report R&D funding in P.L. 113-76 for agencies and programs. For accounts that include funding for both R&D and non-R&D activities, CRS generally relies on agency reporting of how much is spent on R&D activities. This report will be updated as agencies make this information available.
President Obama's budget request for FY2014 included $142.773 billion for research and development (R&D), a $1.861 billion (1.3%) increase from the FY2012 actual funding level of $140.912 billion. Both historically and in the President's request, funding for R&D has been highly concentrated in a few departments. Under President Obama's request, seven federal agencies would have received 95.3% of total federal R&D funding, with the Department of Defense (47.8%) and the Department of Health and Human Services (22.4%, primarily for the National Institutes of Health) alone accounting for more than 70% of total federal R&D funding.
Among the largest changes proposed in the President's request, the R&D budget of the Department of Defense would have fallen by $4.625 billion (6.3%) from its FY2012 level, while R&D funding for the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) would have increased by $1.428 billion. The NIST growth was attributable to proposed increases in funding for its core research laboratories and the establishment of a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) with $1 billion in mandatory funding. As envisioned, the NNMI would seek to promote the development of manufacturing technologies with broad applications. P.L. 113-76 does not address the Administration's proposal for National Network of Manufacturing Institutes (NNMI).
President Obama requested increases in the R&D budgets of NIST, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy's Office of Science. These accounts were targeted for doubling over 7 years, from their FY2006 levels, by the America COMPETES Act, and over 10 years by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010. The FY2014 request broke with President Obama's earlier budgets, which explicitly stated the goal of doubling funding for these accounts over their FY2006 aggregate level. Instead the Office of Science and Technology Policy asserted that the FY2014 request "maintains the President's commitment to increase funding for research at these three science agencies." The President's FY2014 request set a pace that would have resulted in doubling of the FY2006 level over a period of more than 17 years. FY2014 funding for these accounts provided by P.L. 113-6 sets a doubling pace of more than 20 years.
The President's request continued support for three multi-agency R&D initiatives in FY2014, proposing $1.704 billion for the National Nanotechnology Initiative, a reduction of $159 million (8.6%) over FY2012, due primarily to reductions in NNI funding at DOD and NSF; $3.968 billion for the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development program, an increase of $159 million (4.2%) over FY2012; and $2.652 billion for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, an increase of $151 million (6.0%) over FY2012.
In recent years, Congress has used a variety of mechanisms to complete the annual appropriations process after the start of the fiscal year. This may affect agencies' execution of their R&D budgets, including delaying or canceling some planned R&D and equipment acquisition.