Despite Congress having passed a continuing resolution to maintain federal agencies’ budgets through the first half of fiscal 2013 (see IBO 8/15/12), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) estimates that sequestration could result in a federal R&D budget cut of $57.5 billion, or 8.4%, through 2017. Budgets for nondefense R&D at science agencies, such as the NIH, the NSF, the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture, could be cut by 8.2% per agency for fiscal 2013 and by 7.6% through 2017. The government could opt to cut solely nondefense R&D spending, which would result in budget cuts of $10.2 billion per year for a total of $50.8 billion, or a decrease of 17.2%, through 2017. The Office of Management and Budget estimated that the cuts could lower the number of NIH research grants by 700, but the Department of Health and Human Services said the reduction could be closer to 2,000. The cuts could mean 2,600 fewer NSF grants per year.

Source: AAAS