Washington

US President Bill Clinton is expected to seek substantial increases in funding for basic scientific research in his budget request for the 2001 financial year, to be released on 7 February.

Science lobbyists say the request may include $1 billion (6 per cent) more for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a “double-digit increase” (at least $350 million) for the National Science Foundation (NSF) — the largest increase that Clinton has requested for the agency in his eight years in office.

Clinton is expected to announce a broad effort to boost spending on scientific research in his State of the Union address on 27 January. Other important science-funding agencies, including the space agency NASA, the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, are also expected to benefit.

Some of the new money will be allocated to targeted initiatives in computer research, nanotechnology and environmental science. But the president also intends to propose substantial increases in funding for basic research in most scientific disciplines.

Unlike similar increases he proposed two years ago, these are not expected to be conditional on a tobacco tax or any similar budgetary gimmick. However, they will exceed the spending caps agreed by Congress and the White House in 1997. The caps were massively breached during last year's budget negotiations, but have not yet been formally abandoned.

Clinton will propose substantial additional funding for the NSF to continue a research initiative in information technology begun last year, to lead an interagency nanotechnology initiative, which will be unveiled in the budget (see Nature 400, 95; 1999), and to start a build-up of research in the environmental sciences that was proposed last autumn by the National Science Board (see Nature 400, 492; 1999).

Michael Lubell, head of public affairs at the American Physical Society, welcomed reports of the budget proposal, saying it reflects recent calls by a coalition of scientific societies for a “balanced portfolio” of research spending.

But John Porter (Republican, Illinois), chair of the appropriations subcommittee in the House of Representatives that funds the NIH, said he was “disappointed” with the president's reported plan to propose a $1 billion increase for the NIH. Porter points out that it “falls short” of a hoped-for 15 per cent increase, which would double the agency's budget in five years. He adds that the president failed to support doubling NIH funds during early stages of the budget process in the past two years. Congress gave the agency increases of 15 per cent or more in 1999 and 2000, which the president ultimately approved.

Ray Merenstein, vice-president of Research!America, a lobby group for biomedical research, agrees that the proposed increase for the NIH is “not high enough”. But he is optimistic about the outcome, as the president's initial offer is still one of the highest percentage increases Clinton has proposed for the agency since taking office.