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Budget

NASA's FY 2014 Budget Starts To Emerge

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
January 14, 2014
Filed under ,

Appropriators Release FY2014 Omnibus Bill, NASA Does Well, Space Policy Online
“It may not be the full enchilada, but NASA did pretty well all things considered in the proposed FY2014 omnibus appropriations bill released tonight (January 13). Assuming approval by the House, Senate and President, NASA will get $17.6 billion for FY2014, not that much less than its $17.7 billion request.  Under some scenarios, NASA could have gotten as little as $16.1 billion, so this is a tremendous improvement.”

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

22 responses to “NASA's FY 2014 Budget Starts To Emerge”

  1. Denniswingo says:
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    Yep, the folks at NIH are fuming…

    http://www.huffingtonpost.c

    However, if you look at the bottom at their budget since 2001 it is up 33%.

    • ejd1984 says:
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      If you adjust for inflation, it appears to be just a .3% increase since 2001.

      http://www.usinflationcalcu

    • Anonymous says:
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      That demonstrates the value Americans and our politicians see in scientific research. It’s pathetic. Perhaps NIH related research will go overseas just like much of the particle physics research that used to take place in the US.

      • Denniswingo says:
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        I hardly think a 35% INCREASE since 2001 deserves the word pathetic… Just think if that was NASA’s budget.

        • Anonymous says:
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          Sure that number sounds great absent the inflation context. Given inflation, that budget certainly does not buy a 35% increase in the amount of research that can be funded.

          Certainly NASA has been underfunded for a long time, arguably since at least the last half or two thirds of the Apollo program. That is not the fault of the NIH, NSF, or DOE. The poor funding of NASA, the NIH, the NSF, and the DOE does highlight that lack of priority placed on science and technology by our politicians and the electorate.

          Note that the numbers quoted do not include inflation. According to the Congressional Research Service, since 2001 the NIH budget has increased by 0.46%. Since 2003, the budget has decreased 18.8%.

          • dogstar29 says:
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            Our problem is that basic research (and human spaceflight) are not profitable because they generate no commercial sales or IP. So they can only be funded by the government through taxes. And for decades the American people have been told that taxes are evil and government is the enemy. Except of course when it brings pork to our community. That said, in raw dollars, public and private, the US still leads the world in total R&D spending, but China is in second place and catching up fast.
            http://en.wikipedia.org/wik

            In government funding for university research as a fraction of GDP, however, the US is actually below average among the wealthy nations:
            http://www.itif.org/files/2

          • Anonymous says:
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            I agree, and therein lies the rub. Without high risk (i.e. basic) research and advanced applications and development projects (like what much of NASA does) there’s nothing to feed those companies looking to develop and bring product to market.

      • Rocky J says:
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        NIH cuts. No need to go overseas. They just need to trim off all research on obesity. That will get their attention in Washington.

        • Rocky J says:
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          Some problem with the comment system. I deleted the larger graphic then added the smaller size one (identical names). Both still show up.

    • Vladislaw says:
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      33% increase over 13 years is 2.5% per year, about the rate of inflation. Basically it is sitting exactly where they were 13 years ago. But better than nothing.

  2. ejd1984 says:
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    If I’m not mistaken, isn’t this Omnibus bill to set the government spending levels for the next two years?

    If so, at the very lest, there’s now some financial stability to NASA’s budget and long gestating (Pre-Phase A) projects should be quickly ramping up.

    • Forrest Lumpkin says:
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      No. This is an omnibus appropriation for just FY14. You are most likely getting it confused with the budget resolution based last month. In a normal budget cycle, a one year budget resolution is passed by Congress in the spring for the coming fiscal year. Such a budget resolution sets the caps for discretionary spending and even allocate these caps into allocations for each of the appropriations laws to be passed as the next step in a normal budget cycle. We have not had a budget resolution for at least four years mainly because of our currently “divided” government. The President does not sign resolutions and they do not technically have the force of law. However budget resolutions do have more legal teeth than other resolutions in that their roll in the budget process is spelled out in public law (I think that law was passed in 1976 and has been amended somewhat). So, the current omnibus takes the $ 1.1 trillion of discretionary funding that last month’s budget resolution allocated for FY14 and divided it to all the discretionary funding accounts (NASA currently has at least the following accounts: science, aeronautics, exploration, space operations, space technology, cross agency support, construction, education, and inspector general). Last month’s resolution also called for $1.1 trillion in discretionary spending for FY15 but future appropriation’s laws will be needed for FY15. Hopefully that will go more smoothly with the overall spending level set by last month’s resolution and the desire by Congress to not have budget battles coinciding with the 2014 midterm elections.

    • Forrest Lumpkin says:
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      I need to correct something in my above reply. In the typical budget process Congress does pass a resolution in the spring to establish a budget for the coming fiscal year. The exact type of resolution is a “concurrent resolution” which does not have to be signed by the President. The budget agreement passed last month is actually a “joint resolution” which does require the president’s signature. It is a very interesting 40 page document in that seems to a blend of a two year budget resolution together with things that need to be in a public law (such as the changes to civil service retirement. As near as I can tell that law does not explicitly appropriate funds which is why we need the omnibus appropriation currently being worked. It does however seem to have so many guidelines into law which shape how the eventual appropriations would look and which also settle all the main disputes that were being waged that the eventual appropriations law(s) would not be the subject of major battles. It is I am sure still a major effort as it will be a law in the range of at least a thousand pages whereas last months budget deal law is only 40 pages.

  3. dogstar29 says:
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    The bill apparently guards against any attempt by NASA to divert funds designated for SLS/Orion to more useful purposes.

    • RocketEconomist327 says:
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      All major programs got funded at levels that allow them to proceed forward: SLS/Orion/”Commercial”/ISS/JWST. All of them are funded at an adequate, but not optimal, number.

  4. Rocky J says:
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    Here is a breakdown of the numbers on spacepolicyonline and compared to 2012. 2013’s breakdown is hard to find. Spacepolicy is claiming they will have something later this evening compared to 2013.

    • Rocky J says:
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      Breakdown of NASA Science budget – attached. Well, Bill Nye and Planetary Society have worked hard to have the Planetary Science budget set at $1.5B. They fell short $150 Million. On top of that, Congress specifies that $80M be spent on Europa concept development. So they are short about $230M which is significant. Little did Bill Nye know that by suddenly calling for a Europa mission, see his Planetary blog, it would put a dent in the appropriation.

      The increase in JWST appropriation is essentially the cut in the Planetary Science budget. Earth Science gets a $60M increase over 2012. Maybe GOES-R ($7B project) has impact there. The Omnibus breakdown boiled down to two people – Senator Mikulski and Congressman Rogers. We would have done worse if not for Mikulski but she did protect GSFC’s JWST at the expense of Planetary Science.

      • RocketEconomist327 says:
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        BINGO – on Rogers and Milulski and BINGO on JWST. The number grows every year. Its crushing science but no one wants to hear it.

    • Forrest Lumpkin says:
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      The FY13 values can be found in the FY13 Program Operating Plan. Use the following link:

      http://www.nasa.gov/sites/d

      This Operating Plan was released very late in the FY (just last August) because of the budget battles and the effect of the sequester. The total NASA budget for FY13 per the Operating Plan was $16.66 B compared to the FY14 omnibus number of $17.6 B; so the budget is up almost $1 B from FY13 but recall that the FY13 was down from FY12 by the better part of a billion.

    • Forrest Lumpkin says:
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      Correction the NASA budget for FY13 per the Operating Plan was $16.87 B and not $16.66 B.