May 8, 2017
To: Faculty, Academic Appointees and Staff
From: Derek Douglas, Vice President for Civic Engagement and External Affairs, and Eric D. Isaacs, Executive Vice President for Research, Innovation and National Laboratories
Subject: Federal Funding
Date: May 8, 2017
On Friday, President Trump signed a Congressionally-approved budget that will fund the federal government through September 30, 2017. The budget includes increases or maintains current funding for a number of areas relevant to the University’s academic programs and the science programs of our affiliated laboratories.
The approved budget includes the following components:
- The National Institutes of Health receives an increase of $2 billion, or 6.2 percent, including increases targeted for cancer research, the BRAIN initiative, the Precision Medicine Initiative, and regenerative medicine research.
- The National Science Foundation budget is essentially flat funded at $7.47 billion, an $8 million increase over 2016; the bill contains no new restrictive language on the use of funds.
- The National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts are both funded at $150 million, a $2 million increase over 2016.
- The maximum Pell Grant award is slightly increased to $5,935; Title VI international education programs remain at 2016 funding levels.
- Through funding for the Department of Energy, Argonne’s Advanced Photo Source upgrade (APS-u) funding is increased from $20 million in FY16 to $42.5 million, and Fermilab’s Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) funding increases from $26 million to $50 million.
We continue to advocate for federal funding in areas critical to the University’s work, and will keep you apprised of material developments.