Sponsors (5)
The bill secures sustained, inflation‑protected federal R&D funding that benefits researchers, industry, and defense, but does so by creating new, mandatory spending commitments that raise deficit risk, reduce budget flexibility, and limit fiscal transparency.
Researchers, universities, and federal research labs receive predictable, multi‑year increases in funding for NSF, DOE Office of Science, NIST, DoD S&T, and NASA SMD across 2026–2035, supporting sustained research activity and training.
DOE Office of Science, DoD S&T, NIST, and NASA SMD appropriations will be indexed to CPI‑U beginning FY2036, protecting the real purchasing power of research funding against inflation.
Increased federal R&D funding creates opportunities for technology commercialization and job growth for startups, small businesses, and firms that partner with federal labs.
Taxpayers face higher mandatory federal spending and the risk of larger deficits unless the increases are offset, because these appropriations are excluded from PAYGO scorecards.
Automatic CPI‑indexed increases commit the government to rising future costs, reducing budget flexibility and potentially crowding out other domestic priorities for middle‑class families and taxpayers.
Shifting larger R&D appropriations to DoD S&T may prioritize defense research over some civilian research areas, potentially disadvantaging non‑defense scientific fields and students.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Appropriates specified annual funding for NSF, DOE Office of Science, DoD S&T, and NIST for FY2026–FY2035 and applies CPI-U indexing for some accounts from FY2036 onward.
Introduced April 3, 2025 by Richard Joseph Durbin · Last progress April 3, 2025
Provides multiyear, specified federal funding for major science and research agencies for fiscal years 2026–2035 and sets automatic inflation adjustments for several accounts beginning in FY2036. It directs Treasury appropriations to the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy Office of Science, Department of Defense science and technology programs, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, with scheduled increases across the decade.