Read the text below which is entitled "Congress Caps
another Disappointing Year" in order to answer questions
27 to 30.
Congress Caps another Disappointing Year
Source: www.aaas.org
4th January 2006 (Adapted)
On December 30, nearly three months into the fi scal
year, President Bush signed the last two Fiscal Year
2006 appropriations bills into law, bringing the FY 2006
appropriation process to a close. The American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) estimates that the
federal Research & Development (R&D) portfolio totals
$134.8 billion in 2006, a $2.2 billion or 1.7 percent increase.
But 97 percent of the increase goes to just two specifi c
areas: defense weapons development and human space
exploration technologies. Funding for all other federal
R&D programs collectively will barely increase, and will fall
nearly 2 percent after adjusting for infl ation. Leaving out
large federal investments in development, congressional
appropriations for basic and applied research total $57.0
billion, an increase of $1.0 billion or 1.8 percent over
2005. But NASA applied research on human space fl ight
technologies accounts for a majority of the increase,
leaving most agency research portfolios with modest
increases falling short of infl ation, or cuts. Many fl agship
federal science agencies have disappointing budgets in
2006.
According to the author, the area of defense weapons development