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President Obama's FY2010 Budget  
May 29 , 2009

On May 7, President Obama sent Congress his FY2010 budget for federal agencies and programs. Congress approved its own budget blueprint in April, but the President's recently released budget provides greater detail on his Administration's priorities for the coming fiscal year. Together with Congress' budget, the President's requests will provide guidance for Congressional appropriators as they consider their FY10 spending bills this summer.

The following is a summary of the education and research highlights of the President's budget.

EDUCATION | RESEARCH

  EDUCATION

Overall, the President's budget would provide $46.7 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education. This is an increase of $1.3 billion over the discretionary total enacted for FY2009. Despite this increase, most higher education programs would be level-funded.

The President's budget proposes major changes to federal student aid programs. It would:

• Transform the Pell Grant into an entitlement and pay for the expansion by eliminating the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL)
• Reform the Perkins Loan
• Streamline the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
• Create a $2.5 billion fund called the College Access and Completion Fund to improve college success and graduation rates for low-income students

Requests for student financial aid and higher education programs are as follows:

• Pell Grants : $28.7 billion FY10. This would provide a maximum grant of $5,550 to be increased annually based on the consumer price index plus one percentage point. The President's request for Pell is an increase of $3 billion for over FY09.
• Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG) : $757 million in FY10. No increase from FY09.
• Federal Work-Study (FWS) : $980 million in FY10. No increase from FY09.
• Perkins Loans : $6 billion in FY2010. The President's request for Perkins calls for a major restructuring of the program. If enacted, Perkins Loans would be delivered in the same way as Pell Grants and Direct Loans, and would be serviced by the same private-sector companies that service Direct Loans. Perkins Loan borrowers would continue to be charged the current 5 percent interest rate and interest would accrue while students are in school. Under this proposal, schools would retain their share of the revolving funds as well as amounts necessary to cover the costs of various Perkins Loan forgiveness provisions.
• Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN): $31 million to support 700 fellowships in FY10. No increase from FY09.
• Javits Fellowships: $10 million to support 218 fellowships in FY10. No increase from FY09.
• International Education Programs: $118.9 million for International Education and Foreign Languages Studies (IEFLS), including $102.3 million for domestic programs, $14.7 million for overseas programs, and $1.8 million for the Institute for International Public Policy. No increase from FY09.
• TRIO Programs: $848 million in FY10. No increase from FY09.
• GEAR UP: $313 million in FY10. No increase from FY09.
  Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP): $64 million for LEAP in FY2010. Given the matching requirements from states, this would generate $162 million in aid to 162,000 students. No increase from FY09.

Earlier this month, a group of more than thirty students, alumni, and staff participated in our annual “UCLA Day in Washington " to meet with Members of Congress to advocate for increased funding for these financial aid programs. Our delegates shared their own personal stories along with information about UCLA student enrollment and financial aid data specific to each of California 's Congressional districts. We will continue communicating with Congress on behalf of the campus community about the vital importance of federal financial aid as the FY10 appropriations process gets underway.

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RESEARCH

Department of Defense | Department of Energy | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | National Endowment for the Humanities | National Institutes of Health | National Science Foundation

Department of Defense (DOD)

The Administration's request for the Department of Defense would provide $11.65 billion for Defense Science and Technology (S&T), which includes basic research, applied research, and advanced technology development. Overall, S&T represents 2.2 percent of the President's proposed $533.8 billion base Defense budget for FY10. This falls short of the 3 percent level recommended by the research community and endorsed by the Defense Department's own 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR).

Within S&T, the basic (6.1) and applied (6.2) research portions of the budget include programs funded under the Office of the Secretary of Defense and DARPA, as well those supported by the respective military services (Navy, Army, and Air Force). For overall basic research, the President's budget would provide $1.798 billion (5.9 percent over the FY09 request). Basic research represents 15.4 percent of the total proposed budget for Defense S&T. The budget would provide $4.247 billion overall for applied research, which is essentially the same as requested in FY09. Applied research represents 36.5 percent of the total proposed budget for Defense S&T.

The President's FY10 requests for basic and applied research accounts are as follows (as compared to levels requested in FY09):

• Army Basic Research: $377.3 million (decrease of 0.6 percent)
• Army Applied Research: $781.2 million (increase of 8 percent)
• Navy Basic Research: $531.3 million (increase of 0.6 percent)
• Navy Applied Research: $594 million (decrease of 6.2 percent)
• Air Force Basic Research : $466.1 million (increase of 3.1 percent)
• Air Force Applied Research: $1.095 billion (increase of 4.8 percent)
• National Defense Education Program (NDEP): $90 million (increase of 30.4 percent)
• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA): $3.248 billion (decrease of 1.1 percent)

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Department of Energy (DOE)

The President has requested $26.4 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Energy. This includes funding for the department's science, energy research, environmental management, and defense programs. The funding request for the DOE Office of Science is $4.9 billion, an increase of 3.9 percent above FY09. This funding is in addition to the $1.6 billion the Office of Science is receiving under the Recovery Act.

The Administration has proposed funding the following Office of Science programs in FY10 (as compared to levels enacted in FY09, but not including Recovery Act funding):

• High Energy Physics (HEP): $819 million (increase of 2.9 percent)
• Nuclear Physics (NP): $552 million (increase of 7.8 percent)
• Fusion Energy Sciences ( FES ): $421 million (increase of 4.6 percent). The budget includes $135 million for the U.S. contribution to the international ITER project, a major international fusion experiment in which UCLA Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and Physics faculty are involved. Congress restored funding for ITER in FY09, and this would be an increase of $11 million over the current fiscal year.
• Biological and Environmental Research (BER): $604.2 million (increase of 0.4 percent)
• Basic Energy Science: $1.69 billion (increase of 7.2 percent)
• Advanced Scientific & Computing Research (ASCR): $409 million (increase of 10.9 percent)
• Science Laboratories Infrastructure: $133.6 million (decrease of 8.1 percent)
• Workforce Development for Teachers & Scientists: $20.7 million (increase of 52.2 percent)
• Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC): $100 million for second-year funding for the 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers announced last month. This program also received $277 million in Recovery Act funding. UCLA is the lead institution for one EFRC. No new centers will be funded in FY10.

Other DOE programs of interest to the research community:

The Administration has requested $10 million for program direction for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) . This new agency, which is still getting organized and has just issued its first funding announcement, received $400 million in the Recovery Act and an additional $15 million in FY09 appropriations.

The President has also proposed $280 million to establish eight new multi-disciplinary Energy Innovation Hubs focused on addressing basic science, technology, and economic and policy energy challenges. The eight centers are expected to be competitively awarded and modeled after the existing DOE Bioenergy Research Centers which bring together diverse teams of researchers from a variety of universities, national laboratories, and other organizations. Each hub would be funded at approximately $25 million a year for five years with the possibility of a five year renewal.

The topic areas for the eight Energy Innovation Hubs (and the DOE offices that will be responsible for funding them) are:

1. Energy Efficient Building Systems Design (Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy)
2. Solar Electricity (Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy)
3. Grid Materials, Devices, and Systems (Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability)
4. Carbon Capture and Sequestration (Office of Fossil Energy)
5. Extreme Materials (Office of Nuclear Energy)
6. Modeling and Simulation (Office of Nuclear Energy)
7. Fuels from Sunlight (Office of Science)
8. Batteries and Energy Storage (Office of Science)

Finally, the President's budget includes funding for a new clean energy education initiative called RE-ENERGYSE (Regaining our Energy Science and Engineering Edge). Total funding for the initiative would be $115 million. Some $80 million of the total is for higher education programs including fellowships, internships, post-doctoral opportunities, and development of interdisciplinary masters programs in areas of clean energy. The remaining $35 million is designated for technical training programs, mostly at community colleges, and new energy-related K-12 education efforts. While this broad education effort crosses DOE program offices, its funding is shown in Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), not in the DOE Office of Science.

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

The President's budget request for NASA is $18.6 billion, an increase of 5.1 percent over the FY09 enacted level. In addition, NASA received $1 billion through the Recovery Act, to be spent in FY09 and FY10.

• Science Mission Directorate (SMD): NASA's Science portfolio would receive $4.4 billion, which is 0.6 percent below the current level. SMD also received $400 million in Recovery funds to be spent over two years. Specific SMD allocations are as follows (as compared to levels enacted in FY09):
  • Earth Science: $1.4 billion (increase of1.9 percent)
  • Planetary Science: $1.346 billion (increase of 1.6 percent)
  • Astrophysics*: $1.1 billion (decrease 7.1 percent)
  *NOTE: Astrophysics includes funding for two programs involving UCLA researchers: Launch of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in November 2009; and continued development of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy ( SOFIA ).
  • Heliophysics: $605 million (increase of 2.3 percent)
• Aeronautics Mission Directorate (AMD): $507 million for the Aeronautics portfolio, an increase of 1.2 percent. AMD also received $150 million in Recovery Act funds to be spent over two years.
• Exploration Mission Directorate (EMD): $3.9 billion in for Exploration programs, an increase of 13.1 percent. EMD also received $400 million in Recovery Act funds to be spent over two years.
• Education: $126 million for NASA Education initiatives, a decrease of 25 percent. Despite this reduction, NASA has outlined a list of goals for improving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at all levels. This includes a proposed new program – Innovation in STEM Education – through which the agency will offer new opportunities for student and faculty participation in NASA-related research.
• Cross-Agency Support Programs: $3.4 billion for Cross-Agency Support Programs, an increase of 2.9 percent. These programs also received $50 million in Recovery Act funds to be spent over two years.

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National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

The President's budget would provide $171.3 million for NEH. This is an increase of 10.5 percent over FY09. NEH's core programs (including research, education, preservation and access, and public programs) would receive $61.8 million, an increase 4 percent. The Digital Humanities Initiative would be level-funded at $4 million.

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National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The Administration's budget would provide $30.838 billion NIH. This is an increase of 1.4 percent over the amount enacted for FY09 (excluding the $10 billion provided in the Recovery Act).

The President's request for NIH includes the following strategic priorities:

• Cancer Research: Investment of over $6 billion for cancer research across NIH, reflecting the first year of an 8-year strategy to double cancer research by FY17. The FY10 request represents an increase of 5 percent.
• Autism Research: The NIH plans to provide $141 million of a total $211 million in DHHS-wide funding for research into the causes of and treatments for autism spectrum disorders. This represents an increase of 16 percent.
• Nanotechnology-related Environment, Health and Safety Research: An increase of $9 million to NIEHS for a new initiative to support nanotechnology safety research.
• Bioethics: A total of $5 million from the Office of the Director will be used to launch a new effort in bioethics, which will be funded in coordination with the Institutes and Centers (ICs).
• NIH Common Fund (CF): $549 million for the CF, an increase of1.5 percent.

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National Science Foundation (NSF)

The President's budget for the National Science Foundation (NSF) is $7.045 billion, an increase of 8.5 percent over the amount enacted in FY09.

The President's budget would provide $5.7 billion for Research and Related Activities (R&RA), an increase of 10.6 percent. Within R&RA, the budget would provide the following for the major NSF directorates (as compared to levels enacted in FY09, but not including Recovery Act funding): Biological Sciences: $733 million (increase of 11.8 percent)

• Computer and Information Science and Engineering: $633 million (increase of 10.3 percent)
• Engineering (including SBIR/STTR programs): $764 million (increase of 10.3 percent)
• Geosciences: $909 million (increase of 12.6 percent)
• Mathematics and Physical Sciences : $1.3 billion (increase of 9.9 percent)
• Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences: $257 million (increase of 6.9 percent)
• Office of Cyberinfrastructure: $219 million (increase of 9.9 percent)
• Office of International Science and Engineering: $49 million (increase of 11.3 percent)
• Office of Polar Programs: $516 million (increase of 9.6 percent)
• Integrative Activities: $271 million (increase of 12.3 percent)

The Administration has requested $857 million for Education and Human Resources programs, an increase of 1.5 percent above FY09. The EHR budget would include $69 million for the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program, an increase of 9 percent. In addition, the Administration has requested $55 million for the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program. This is the same amount enacted for FY09, which was supplemented by an additional $60 million in Recovery Act funds. The Administration has requested $58 million for Math and Science Partnerships, which is 4.6 percent below the FY09 level. However, it is important to note that this program received $25 million in Recovery Act funds.

The Administration requested $117 million for the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) directorate. This is a decrease of 22 percent from FY09. Within MREFC, the budget would provide $57 million for NSF Science and Technology Centers (STCs), a decrease of 6.2 percent. This program fosters collaborative research relationships among academic institutions, national laboratories, and industrial organizations. According to the Administration's request, $57 million in funding would allow for the establishment of five new STCs, bringing the total number of STCs to 17 nationwide.

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For more information on the President's FY2010 budget, see summaries and supporting documents at: http://www.aau.edu/budget/article.aspx?id=8830