News Update on FY 2015 Appropriations for DOE Office of Science

Reprinted with permission from the American Institute of Physics' FYI: The Bulletin of Science Policy News

President Obama is currently considering a $1.1 trillion bill to fund, among other things, science research. The approval for this spending would last through September 2015 (except for Homeland Security spending which will be funded through early 2015.)

Total Office of Science:

The FY 2014 appropriation was $5,066.4 million

The FY 2015 request is $5,111.2 million, an increase of $44.8 million or 0.9 percent

The final bill provides $5,071.0 million, an increase of $4.6 million or essentially flat funding.

Within the Office of Science are the following selected programs:

Advanced Scientific Computing Research

The FY 2014 appropriation was $478.1 million

The FY 2015 request is $541.0 million, an increase of $62.9 million or 13.2 percent

The final bill provides $541.0 million, an increase of $62.9 million or 13.2 percent above current funding

The conference report has language on funding for specific facilities and programs.

Basic Energy Sciences

The FY 2014 appropriation was $1,711.9 million

The FY 2015 request is $1,806.5 million, an increase of $94.6 million or 5.5 percent

The final bill provides $1,733.2 million, an increase of $21.3 million or 1.2 percent above current funding

The conference report has language on Energy Frontier Research Centers, materials science and engineering, Innovation Hubs, and facilities’ operations.

Biological and Environmental Research

The FY 2014 appropriation was $609.7 million

The FY 2015 request is $628.0 million, an increase of $18.3 million or 3.0 percent

The final bill provides $592.0 million, a decrease of $17.7 million or 2.9 percent below current funding

The conference report has language on facility funding and a climate model development and validation initiative, for which no funding was provided.

Fusion Energy Sciences

The FY 2014 appropriation was $504.7 million

The FY 2015 request is $416.0 million, a decrease of $88.7 million or 17.6 percent

The final bill provides $467.5 million, a decrease of $37.2 million or 7.4 percent below current funding

The conference report has language on domestic and international fusion facilities and fusion programs.

High Energy Physics

The FY 2014 appropriation was $796.5 million

The FY 2015 request is $744.0 million, a decrease of $52.5 million or 6.6 percent

The final bill provides $766.0 million, a decrease of $30.5 million or 3.8 percent below current funding

The conference report has language on specific programs and facilities.

Nuclear Physics

The FY 2014 appropriation was $569.1 million

The FY 2015 request is 593.6 million, an increase of $24.4 million or 4.3 percent

The final bill provides $595.0 million, an increase of $25.9 million or 4.6 percent above current funding

The conference report has language on specific programs and facilities.

To read the bill

The section on the Department of Energy's Office of Science is found on PDF pages 84-86, with a funding table on PDF pages 104-105. Note that language in the previous House and Senate appropriations reports stands unless modified by language in the conference report.

Contact

Richard M. Jones

Government Relations Division

American Institute of Physics

rjones@aip.org

301-209-3095

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Published December 16, 2014