President Biden releases first budget request

President Biden asked Congress to give big budget increases to most federal science agencies in his first budget request. The $6 trillion request includes a 9% increase, or $13.5 billion, in total federal spending on R&D, bringing the total to $171 billion. USDA research fared well in the request which includes $754 million in new money for National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Much of the new funding is focused on climate. The proposal also recommended $700 million for the competitive grants program within NIFA, the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI).

The National Science Foundation (NSF) would receive a 20% funding boost, bringing its budget to a historic $10.2 billion. Within the Department of Energy climate was again a major focus. The Office of Science received a moderate 5% budget increase, with the largest increase going to the Biological and Environmental Research program. The request also included a new program, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Climate (ARPA-C), which aims to accelerate the development of climate-friendly technologies. See the Societies funding requests and all the budget details here.