Conflict Brews Over Science in US Stimulus Package

With the stimulus bill passing through the US Senate already, it is now the tedious and difficult task to reconcile the bill's version that passed though the US House of Representatives early. The differences are still quite big as far as funding for science is concerned.

Overall, science fared well in the Senate. According to an analysis by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (pdf format), the Senate bill includes $17.8 billion for research and development, including $2 billion for new facilities and equipment - compared to $13.2 billion in the version previously passed by the House of Representatives.

This boost is mostly due to an extra $6.5 billion provided by the Senate for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health. But the two main agencies that support the physical sciences - National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy's Office of Science - were not so favoured. In the Senate bill, they get only $1.2 billion and $330 million respectively, compared to $3 billion and $2 billion in the House version.

So how come the physical sciences ALWAYS get the short end of the stick? I've never had any politician flat out explain this. It's not something they can't deny since we have all the evidence these past few years.

Zz.