President's budget request includes cuts to science
President Donald Trump today released his administration’s budget request for fiscal year 2021. In it, he proposes cutting domestic nondefense spending, including investments in the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, in favor of increasing federal defense spending.
More on Trump's spending priorities
- Read the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s official response to President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal 2021.
- In his State of the Union address, the president misrepresented his administration’s support for medical research. In fact, he has repeatedly sought to reduce funding.
Trump’s budget would reduce nondefense discretionary spending by $40 billion and increase defense spending by $2 billion. This comes despite a bipartisan agreement made in Congress last year to lock in spending levels for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, which Trump signed into law.
Among the cuts the president’s budget proposes are:
- a 7% cut to the National Science Foundation budget,
- a 5% cut to the National Institutes of Health budget, and
- an 8% cut to the Department of Education budget.
While these proposed cuts, and the priorities they reflect, are disheartening, the president’s budget is only a request. Congress ultimately makes spending decisions, and it has consistently balked at the president’s attempts to reduce funding for science.
Join the ASBMB Today mailing list
Sign up to get updates on articles, interviews and events.
Latest in Policy
Policy highlights or most popular articles
Two years of the DOJ’s China Initiative
Despite the agency’s intense scrutiny of scientists at academic institutions, few have been convicted, and none has been accused of economic espionage.
Early-career scientists need pandemic relief funds
ASBMB recommends that Congress provide an additional year of funding for students and early-career researchers whose grants expired in 2020 before they could complete their training and/or research.
Can urban universities be better neighbors?
Universities are a significant economic force in American cities. Some leaders are asking how they can use that power to benefit local communities.
5 ways the Biden administration may help stem the loss of international students
Over the past four years, the Trump administration made it increasingly difficult for students from other countries to study in the United States. President Joe Biden’s election signals a new day for international education.
Intense scrutiny of Chinese-born researchers in the US threatens innovation
The recent arrest of an MIT engineering professor has once again drawn attention to the role of China in the U.S. science and technology system.
Pandemic threatens food security for many college students
One spring 2020 report found that 38% of students at four-year universities were food-insecure in the previous 30 days.