House funding committee advances science spending bills

The House Appropriations Committee is moving forward with its fiscal year (FY) 2022 spending bills, releasing all twelve bills over the past few weeks. The Agriculture bill provides $3.3 billion for USDA Research, Education, and Economics – $321 million above the FY 2021 enacted level. ARS would receive the bulk of the increase, while research at 1890 universities would also receive a significant increase of nearly $20 million. The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) would receive a modest $15 million increase. For the first time, the House bill includes funding for the Agriculture Advanced R&D Authority (AgARDA), although only $2 million, significantly below the authorized $50 million.

The House funding bills for the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy-Office of Science were also released. NSF received a sizeable 13% funding increase, bringing its budget to $9.6 billion. DOE-Office of Science only received a 4% increase, far below the research community’s requested 10% increase. The Senate has not released any of its FY 2022 funding bills or even announced a target for when they will be released. With the August recess rapidly approaching and an increasingly full fall legislative calendar, it will likely be months before the final FY 2022 funding numbers will be decided. See the latest funding details here.