Prior to the end of the US federal government’s fiscal 2010 on September 30, President Obama signed a continuing resolution to extend federal government funding at current levels until December 3. The 12 fiscal 2011 budget bills have yet to pass Congress. The final budget and its passage is dependent on the outcome of November‘s congressional elections.

According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, under the Obama Administration’s fiscal 2011 budget request, federal R&D funding would decrease 0.3% to $148.1 billion. Nondefense R&D spending would grow 5.9% to $65.9 billion. The National Institutes of Health‘s budget would increase 3.2%, the Department of Energy’s budget would grow 6.8% and the National Science Foundation’s budget would increase 8.0%.