RESEARCH FUNDING HOLDS ITS OWN

G overnment officials breathed a sigh of relief Oct. 1 when they learned that President Clinton had signed the omnibus appropriations bill in the waning hours of Sept. 30. All of their budgets were in place at the start of the fiscal year. Congress and the Administration had bent over backward to ensure that there would be no government shutdowns in fiscal 1997 as there were in fiscal 1996. The process worked well for federal research-oriented agencies. In contrast to last year, when R&D budgets were being slashed right and left, a declining budget is the exception rather than the rule for this fiscal year. In most instances, Congress did not provide as much as the Administration requested for various research programs. But, in fact, only two agencies, albeit two big ones, are seeing their research budgets fall this year. One such agency is the Department of Energy. Although DOE's total budget is up 2% to ...