Biden budget outline proposes major non-defense spending increases

April 9, 2021

As is customary for a new administration, President Biden first released a “skinny budget,” providing an outline of the administration’s spending priorities for FY2022. Biden’s budget proposal calls for a 16% increase in non-defense spending and includes major increases for many federal research agencies.

The proposal provides $4 billion, or $647 million above the 2021 enacted level, for USDA’s research, education, and outreach programs. These investments in agricultural research would advance innovation and the application of science-based and data driven tools to put American technologies into the hands of farmers. In addition, the discretionary request provides an increase of $161 million above the 2021 enacted level to support a multi-agency initiative to integrate science-based tools into conservation planning in order to measure, monitor, report, and verify carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas reduction, wildlife stewardship, and other environmental services at the farm level and on Federal lands. The request also includes an increase of $40 million for USDA’s climate hubs to expand climate science tools and increase landowner awareness of—and engagement in—efforts to combat climate change.

The Department of Energy-Office of Science would receive $7.4 billion, an increase of more than $400 million over the 2021 level. In addition, the request provides a total of $1 billion for a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Climate and the existing Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, of which $700 million is funded through DOE. Together, these initiatives would support transformative solutions for carbon-pollution free energy, adaptation, and resilience against the climate crisis and lay the foundation for future improvements in research and development across multiple agencies.

Finally, the National Science Foundation would get a whopping 20% – or $1.7 billion – funding increase over the 2021 level, bringing its overall budget to $10.2 billion. The discretionary request provides $1.2 billion for climate and clean energy related research, an increase of $500 million above the 2021 enacted level. Also within the NSF total, the proposal would establish a new Directorate for technology, innovation, and partnerships.

The full detailed request is expected to be released in May. See the latest budget information on our Research Funding webpage.