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Economic Stimulus Bill Includes More Than $15 Billion for Science
02/17/2009

President Obama today signed into law an economic stimulus bill that directs more than $15 billion to science. The House of Representatives passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (HR) on February 13 by a vote of 246-183 (with no Republicans voting in favor of the legislation) and the Senate passed the bill later that day on a 60-38 vote. Three Republican Senators (Collins of Maine, Snowe of Maine and Specter of Pennsylvania) voted in favor of the bill.

The $789 billion bill includes more than $15 billion for a variety of investments in science facilities, research programs and instrumentation, as well as $1 billion to repair and renovate Veterans Administration medical facilities. The legislation also provides "unprecedented oversight, accountability, and transparency to ensure that taxpayer dollars are invested effectively, efficiently, and as quickly as possible" by distributing funds through existing formulas and programs with proven accountability measures already in place, providing addition funding for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and agency Inspectors General, establishing a new Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board to conduct oversight of recovery spending and establishing a new website, accessible to the public, that will feature information about recovery spending, grants, contracts, and oversight activities.

Most funds provided in the bill will be available until September 30, 2010. The following summary of proposed funding for selected agencies and programs of interest to FASEB members was prepared by staff in the FASEB Office of Public Affairs. Page numbers refer to pages in the text of the conference report.

National Institutes of Health
(View pages 153-156 [pdf])

$10 billion total* distributed as follows:
  • $8.2 billion total to the Office of the Director (OD), of which $7.4 billion will be transferred to the Institutes, Centers and Common Fund in proportion to current appropriations and $800 million will remain in the OD for trans-NIH initiatives.
  • $1.3 billion total to the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), of which $1 billion is for Òcompetitive awards for the construction and renovation of extramural research facilitiesÓ and $300 million is for shared instrumentation and other capital equipment.
  • $500 million is for the NIH Buildings and Facilities (B & F) account to be used for construction, repairs and renovation of NIH intramural buildings.


  • *An additional $400 million is to be transferred from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to the NIH Office of the Director to support or conduct comparative effectiveness research (view page 156 [pdf]).

    National Science Foundation
    (View page 43 [pdf])

    $3.2 billion total distributed as follows:
  • $2.5 billion for Research and Related Activities including: $300 million for Major Research Instrumentation program, and $200 million for academic research facilities modernization
  • $100 million to Education and Human Resources
  • $400 million to Major Research and Facilities Construction
  • $2 million to the Office of the Inspector General


  • Department of Energy: Office of Science
    (View pages 58-64 [pdf])

    $2 billion total distributed as follows:
  • $1.6 billion to the DOE Office of Science
  • $400 million to the Advanced Research Projects Agency Ð Energy
  • In addition, $15 million to the DOE Office of the Inspector General


  • Veterans Administration: Medical Facilities
    (View pages 213-215 [pdf])

    $1.25 billion total to include:
  • $1 billion to Veterans Health Administration Medical Facilities
  • $50 million to National Cemetery Administration
  • $50 million to Information Technology Systems
  • $150 million to General Operating Expenses
  • $1 million to the Office of the Inspector General


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