Presidents make budget requests: Congress holds the purse strings. With the two branches of government often at odds, it may seem a wonder that the final outcome looks anything like the initial request. And yet the amount Congress spends on research and development (R&D) is usually within a few per cent of the president?s request (see graph).
This is because Congresses, cognizant of economic conditions and the limits to deficit spending, and presidents, wielding veto threats, come to broad agreement on overall levels of discretionary spending. Those, in turn, closely guide R&D support, says Kei Koizumi of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington DC. Roughly one out of seven discretionary dollars goes to R&D: ?In the end, all these interest groups fighting for discretionary spending fight to a draw.?
Broad agreement on discretionary spending does nothing to reduce the gloating and griping of individual winners and losers. During the past few years, Congress has funded biomedical, energy and environmental research above the president?s requests, while giving the physical sciences less.
President Bush outlined his priorities at the State of the Union address ? but will Congress agree?
Credit: J. WATSON/AFP/GETTY
