President Signs Defense Bill, Increasing R&D Budget by $4.3B

With the President's signature on the fiscal year 2005 Defense Appropriations Bill last week, the Pentagon received nearly $70 billion for research and development spending, a $4.3 billion increase over that of last year.

Much of the increase is absorbed by congressional earmarks, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Spending on basic defense research is up 7.8 percent ($109 million) from the FY 2004 level,  including increases for the Air Force ($31 million), the Army ($27 million), and the Navy ($12 million).

Funding for applied research also is up 12 percent, or $525 million, over the FY 2004 amount. The Army will receive a $118 million increase, the Navy $102 million, and the Air Force $61 million.

The Defense Appropriations Act, as passed by Congress in late July, calls for a total of $416.2 billion in FY 2005 spending, approximately $25 billion over FY 2004 spending. Included in the Act is $25 billion to cover war-related expenses in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the increases from the previous year, the budget is still $1.6 billion below the President’s request.

The Department of Defense cannot spend any of it until the second part of the bill, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2005, also passes. Officials from both the House and Senate armed services committees have not commented on when that legislation is expected to pass.

The FY 2005 Defense Appropriations Act is available in full from the Congress website at: http://congress.org/congressorg/bill.xc?billnum=H.R.4613&congress=108