{"id":2642,"date":"2010-02-02T16:28:24","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T20:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=2642"},"modified":"2010-02-02T16:28:24","modified_gmt":"2010-02-02T20:28:24","slug":"presidents-budget-reflects-priorities-in-stem-renewable-energy-climate-and-bio-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2010\/02\/02\/presidents-budget-reflects-priorities-in-stem-renewable-energy-climate-and-bio-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"President’s budget reflects priorities in STEM, renewable energy, climate, and “bio-economy”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was contributed by Nadine Lymn, ESA Director of Public Affairs<\/em><\/p>\n

As is tradition on the first Monday in February, the President yesterday unveiled his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year of 2011.\u00a0 All over Washington, DC, federal agencies held budget briefings, with more to come over the next several days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although President Obama called for some fiscal belt-tightening, Administration officials presenting the budget pointed out that Obama was preserving\u2014and in some cases boosting\u2014key science research and development (R&D) programs.\u00a0 Presidential Science Advisor and Director of the <\/span>White House Office of Science and Technology Policy <\/span><\/a>John Holdren said during a briefing that the President:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u2026managed to preserve what needed to be preserved for science while holding the line on spending.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Among other areas that Holdren highlighted, is a 63 percent increase proposed for the <\/span>US Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture<\/span><\/a> competitive grants program.\u00a0 That increase would bring the program to $429 million and a significant part of it would focus on bioenergy research.<\/span><\/p>\n

Holdren also pointed to the President\u2019s proposed $3.7 billion spread across multiple agencies to foster education in STEM\u2014science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.\u00a0 That proposal includes $1 billion to improve science and math achievements of K-12 students.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jane Lubchenco, who heads the <\/span>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/span><\/a> (NOAA) said that her agency\u2019s proposed R&D budget is the largest boost that NOAA has seen in over a decade. \u00a0Lubchenco characterized strengthening science at the agency as part of her \u201cpersonal mission\u201d and said agency priorities include addressing ocean acidification, detection of marine pathogens, and aquaculture.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Administration\u2019s budget also reflects renewed emphasis on the <\/span>US Global Change Research Program<\/span><\/a>, proposing a 21 percent increase to $2.6 billion for the multi-agency program.\u00a0 The <\/span>National Aeronautics and Space Administration<\/span><\/a> (NASA) would get a boost to its Earth science program to improve forecasting of climate change and natural disasters.\u00a0 The Department of Interior\u2019s lead science agency, the US Geological Survey is proposed to receive an $18 million increase for its USGCRP programs, focused on understanding the impacts of climate change on natural resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>At the <\/span>National Science Foundation <\/span><\/a>(NSF) budget briefing, Director Arden Bement\u2019s highlights included the agency\u2019s plans to integrate its existing climate science and engineering research with new education and cyber-based activities through its Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability initiative.\u00a0 In addition, the agency is interested in fostering the \u201cbio-economy\u201d by drawing on biology to boost agricultural productivity, industrial processes, and environmental sustainability.<\/span><\/p>\n

NSF\u2019s <\/span>National Ecological Observatory Network<\/span><\/a>\u2014which promises to open up new horizons for large-scale biology\u2014is slated to receive $15 million to complete design of the network and $20 million to begin actual construction of facilities in 2011.\u00a0 During yesterday\u2019s NSF\u2019s budget briefing Bement said that:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

NEON is expected to inform and enhance all of the environmental and ecological sciences.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Of course, the Administration\u2019s budget proposal marks only the beginning of the appropriations season. \u00a0Next, Congress will hold budget hearings and react to what the Administration is proposing.\u00a0\u00a0 As the months progress, interested parties ranging from veterans to farmers to scientists will weigh in, trying to improve the odds that the final budget will turn out most favorably for their respective interests.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was contributed by Nadine Lymn, ESA Director of Public Affairs As is tradition on the first Monday in February, the President yesterday unveiled his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year of 2011.\u00a0 All over Washington, DC, federal agencies held budget briefings, with more to come over the next several days. Although President Obama called for some fiscal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,10],"tags":[489,490,491,492,493],"class_list":["post-2642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecology-education","category-ecology-in-policy","tag-fy-2011-budget-proposal","tag-national-ecological-observatory-network","tag-science-research","tag-stem-education","tag-us-global-change-research-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}