Congress Combines 2010 Spending Bills

Congress has approved a $447 billion omnibus spending bill (H.R. 3288), which lumps together six of the seven outstanding fiscal 2010 appropriations bills. Passed by the House on Dec. 10 and the Senate on Dec. 12, the measure leaves only the appropriations bill for the Defense Department to be passed for Congress to complete the budget process for fiscal 2010, which started on Oct. 1. The omnibus bill includes funding for several R&D agencies, namely NIH, NASA, NSF, NIST, and NOAA, which will all see budget increases. The largest percentage budget boost of these agencies went to NOAA, which will have a 2010 budget of $4.7 billion—a nearly 9% jump from 2009. NSF will also grow—getting an additional $436 million, or 6.7%, for a 2010 budget of $6.9 billion. NASA will end up with $18.7 billion, $942 million, or 5.3%, more than in 2009. A 4.6%, or $37.6 million, boost for 2010 will go to NIST, giving it a final budget of $857 million. For NIH, H.R. 3288 provides a $692 million, or 2.3%, increase to $31 billion for 2010. At C&EN press time, President Barack Obama had not yet signed the bill, but was expected to do so soon.