Trump budget proposal: gloomy, but just a proposal

The eyes of the research community are focused on the Trump administration's proposed FY 2018 budget, which was released in May, and its fate in Congress. The proposed budget includes significant cuts in R&D spending, but Congress's final action on the FY 2017 budget, which took place in March, indicates that the current Republican-controlled Congress is not as willing as the president to reduce R&D spending. Although some feared that the omnibus bill that was passed in May would be the first step in implementing the cuts that President Trump had promised, Congress approved a budget for the remainder of FY 2017 that would actually increase federal R&D by approximately 5% above FY 2016 levels, according to AAAS estimates, with increases for basic and applied research, development, and R&D facilities funding. The reductions in research funding are part of an overall realignment of priorities in discretionary spending.