Science agencies get some relief in 2014 budget

The ghost of former President George W Bush permeates the 2014 budget recently released by the US Congress. His presence is good news for physical scientists, but less cheery for biomedical researchers, as Congress reserved some of the biggest spending increases for NASA and the Department of Energy. The National Institutes of Health got a US$1 billion increase that is drawing mixed reviews from research advocates, writes Jeffrey Mervis for Science.

The deal released late on 13 January has its origins in a spending deal that Congress struck on 10 December. It eased the pain of the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration, calling for US$1.012 trillion in 2014 discretionary spending.

That is some US$44 billion more than would have been available under a 2011 agreement that called for reducing the federal deficit by a trillion dollars over the next decade. But it took about a month for lawmakers to decide how to divvy up the money.
Full report on the Science site