Obama's 2009 stimulus package to grant $16 billion in R&D funding

by Marisa Olivia | January 18, 2009 at 03:38 pm

14667 views | 14 Recommendations | 14 comments

16 January 2009.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has estimated that, of the $850 billion economic stimulus package drafted by the incoming Congress and Obama administration, nearly two percent will go to research and development in the sciences.

Of the almost $16 billion appropriated to R&D:

$9.9 billion will go toward the conduct of research and development (mainly basic research)
$3.4 billion will fund R&D facilities and large research equipment
$2.5 billion will go toward non-R&D, but science- and technology-related, funding

Among the organizations receiving the most funding are the National Institute of Health ($3.6 billion), National Science Foundation ($3 billion), the Department of Energy's Office of Science ($2 billion), and the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology ($520 million).

According to the AAAS, this gives federal research funding its first real increase in five years.

The bill requires funding to be distributed within 120 days. Since it is being distributed in such large quantities, the package carries with it extensive accountability and transparency mandates. This aims to prevent waste and fraud, a major public concern. Spending disclosure on a "recovery.gov" website will allow the public to see where the funding is actually going.

The package, in general, is skewed toward construction-related projects, with the goal of R&D spending aiding in the short-term recovery of the US economy. However, the improvements and updates made to research facilities has the potential to improve overall project efficiency and effectiveness. The overall stimulus package will also include provisions for academic research institutions.

Debate and voting on the bill are expected to happen shortly after Obama's inauguration on 20 January. The AAAS says that Congressional leaders are hoping to have a finalized bill handed to the President by mid-February.

It will be interesting to see how science and technology R&D is truly expected to aid (or not) economic recovery. The allocations would suggest that it will be the construction itself that is expected to do so. By comparison, according to the Washington Post, nearly 40 percent of the stimulus package will go towards health care and education.

To view the full AAAS report, including specific funding & historical info, and graphs, click HERE.

For the Obama-Biden Agenda for recovery, click HERE.

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Paschen

at 15:59 on January 18th, 2009

I just wonder how much of the 16 billion will get lost in Bureaucracy?

Marisa Olivia

at 16:47 on January 18th, 2009

At least they have $300 million of the NSF funding going towards research grants, but I guess those have their own bureaucracy....

It would be interesting to see what the recovery.gov website would actually say, and how much gets disclosed.

Also interesting to see which version of the bill actually gets passed.

S. Ray DeRusse (not verified)

at 19:51 on January 18th, 2009

Hopefully, some of this money will be used to combat scientific misconduct and fraud by falsification and fabrication. It seems to have morphed into a potent viral strain in the last 8 years.

http://www.bccmeteorites.com/misconduct-planetary.html

Marisa Olivia

at 20:09 on January 18th, 2009

Scary business, and I totally agree - research ethics should be one of the top priorities, no matter what.

Joe Colbert (not verified)

at 10:38 on February 6th, 2009

Look yo, they talk about "stimulating" the economy. This money is just getting tied up in large business and other nonsense that is going to do nothing for the economy today. For example, they are giving X amount of dollars to help in road construction (JOKE). That is the govt just sayin that the money is being spent somewhere else because I am pretty sure the roads around me are garbage. If there is soooooo much money going into road construction, y do i never see this "change". It is suggested that the economy will see these benefits in about 4 years. Sorry, way to long. People say that it is good to put this money into research, and for the most part you are correct. However, not in a stimulus package. Come on now. A stimulus package for 4 years later is fine and dandy whenever your economy is completely fine. Our economy is in the toilet and this is doing nothing to help. As was said in other posts, if they really want to stimulate the economy, allow the american people the opportunity to do so. Give each person a large sum of money. They have no problem throwing around hundreds of billions of dollars for a nonsense bailout. Businesses are falling out, and the govt is just saying... oh thats ok, here take this money to help you out of your situation. WELL WHERE IS MY MONEY AT! I want a ton of money too. I can start a business and when i am in a serious rut, I hope the govt sends me lump sums of money to get back on my feet. I'm sorry, I am just a regular american. That bailout has nothing to do with me or any other small business for that matter. This stimulus packages is a joke, and I am sure that it will not be tolerated. It will be shut down (at least in the republican side) until the stimulus package actually does soemthing for the american people and not the large corporations.

Denise Seymour (not verified)

at 18:39 on February 10th, 2009

I so agree with Joe Col

Grants (not verified)

at 17:42 on February 18th, 2009

Man i love Obama so much better then Bush...:D

Government Grants (not verified)

at 17:43 on February 18th, 2009

Yes i tottaly agree with you in this point,i think Obama will save USA from crisis.

Government Grant Kit (not verified)

at 17:49 on February 18th, 2009

Obama will save the USA from financial crisis indeed.

chip stock (not verified)

at 06:31 on March 3rd, 2009

Any time you think the government will save you, or this or that, you are living in a fairy tail world, they will not save your house, your job, your softball team etc etc. Stop believing this non sense and get up and go to work, and o yes you might have to use your brains some times to figure out how to make a buck instead of waiting for somebody to hand you a check on friday.

OneLoveOneLife (not verified)

at 17:29 on April 23rd, 2009

your crazy, where is this money coming from. dont get me wrong it is amazing that all this money is going into advancing us as a people; there is no such thing as a free ride. bush suked but now we doubled our debt in a week. its crazy. i hope this works out but im scared to see the government start taking over. the govt has too much involvement socialism has never worked. i pray things look up

Miss Daisy (not verified)

at 08:22 on May 7th, 2009

I agree with chip stock and Joe Colbert. My Uncle might have been right when he said Obama's the devil. Either way the government doesn't care about anyone but themselves. While he and his wife are throwing around money like they hit the jack pot (like buying $500 dollar shoes) If you wanna know more dirt on Obama go to http://celestina.newsvine.com/_news/2007/02/13/566354-digging-dirt-on-obama. It has some interesting information on him. I don't know whether its true or not. I don't think anyone's perfect, but for the sake of ourselves and our country, I hope like hell Obama's not the devil my uncle said he was.