President's Budget Released
On March 4, President Obama released his fiscal year 2015 budget. The NIH request is $30.2 billion, an increase of $200 million, or 0.7 percent over the FY2014 omnibus. The request for NSF is $7.3 billion, an increase of $83 million or 1.2 percent over the FY2014 levels.
President's Budget Request Compared to FY2014 Levels
| FY14 Omnibus | FY15 President's Budget | $ Change from FY14 | % Change from FY14 | |
| NIH | $ 30.0 B | $ 30.2 B | $ 200 M | 0.7 % |
| NSF | $ 7.2 B | $ 7.3 B | $ 83 M | 1.2 % |
The President’s budget also specifically references the BRAIN Initiative. It calls for $100 million from NIH, with additional funds allocated through the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative (OGSI), explained in more detail below. DARPA’s budget includes $80 million for BRAIN, and NSF plans to invest $20 million to support the Initiative.
President Obama announced the OGSI, which adds an additional $56 billion over his budgeted amount for use in enumerated priority projects. While passage of this fund is far from certain, the budget calls for an additional $970 million for NIH and an additional $552 million for NSF, bringing the totals for these two agencies to $31.2 billion and $7.8 billion, respectively.
The President’s budget indicates the Administration’s priorities and serves as a starting point for the budget process. The budget will still have to go through the Appropriations Committees of both houses of Congress and through full House and Senate votes as well; much can—and probably will—change. We will keep you up to date as the process continues and more details are released.
Learn more about how the budgets of NIH and NSF are decided with SfN's webinar "From Congress to Your Lab."
