Update on AI Bills in Congress; House Science Committee AI Initiative Act Added to Defense Policy Bill
There has been a flurry of activity over the last few weeks on a number of AI related pieces of legislation in Congress.
CRA Government Affairs
New Legislation Proposes Major Reorganization of NSF
/In: Artificial Intelligence, Funding, Policy, Research /by Brian MosleyLast week, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Democratic Leader in the Senate, introduced bipartisan legislation that would authorize $100 billion in new funding for the National Science Foundation and make the agency responsible for maintaining the country’s global leadership in innovation. The bill, called S. 3832 “The Endless Frontiers Act,” proposes a major reorganization of NSF and possibly a significant change to the culture of the agency.
House SS&T Committee Introduces Bipartisan AI Research Bill to Significantly Increase Research Authorizations
/In: Artificial Intelligence, Computing Community Consortium (CCC), Funding, Policy, Research /by Peter HarshaHouse Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) yesterday introduced long-awaited legislation aimed at solidifying the U.S. leadership role in artificial intelligence research, education, and workforce development.
Roundup of FY2021 Research Agency Requests: NIST, NIH, and NASA, A Familiar Theme of Cuts
/In: Funding, FY21 Appropriations, Research /by Brian MosleyIn our continuing series following the Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) budget request, we close out with a roundup of an assortment of Federal research agencies. These include the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NASA. There’s a familiar theme to all of these accounts: cuts to […]
NSF FY2021 Request: AI and Quantum Research Get Priority but it’s Paid for with Cuts to Other Research Fields
/In: Artificial Intelligence, FY21 Appropriations, Research /by Brian MosleyOn Monday, the Trump Administration released its Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) Budget Request. Despite administration signals and bipartisan calls for a budget request in line with the funding agreement made in July, the President decided to ignore that agreement and release a funding blueprint with deep reductions to domestic discretionary spending. The federal research portfolio, which is a part of domestic discretionary spending, didn’t escape cuts.
CRA Statement on the FY2021 Presidential Budget Request
/In: Artificial Intelligence, CRA, FY21 Appropriations, Policy, Research, Statements /by Peter HarshaCRA commends the Administration for recognizing the importance of Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Information Science to the Nation’s security and competitiveness, and for addressing that with significant new investments in the President’s Budget Request for FY2021. However, we take issue with the proposed cuts to a large number of other areas of science. Failing to […]
President’s Budget Proposes Big Cuts to R&D, but Big Boost to AI/Quantum
/In: Artificial Intelligence, Funding, FY21 Appropriations, Research /by Peter HarshaThe Administration’s deep cuts to research at the National Science Foundation (-6 percent vs. FY20), DOE Office of Science (-17 percent vs. FY20), NIST (-19 percent), and science programs at NASA (-11 percent) take much of the luster away from the President’s AI/Quantum announcements.
Final FY20 Appropriations: Mostly Increases for Research but There is Some Bad News
/In: Funding, FY20 Appropriations, Research /by Brian MosleyJust in time for the calendar year 2020, and almost three months after the Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) began, Congress is finally finishing up its work on the Federal budget with two Minibuses of all the appropriations legislation. For the research community, it’s mostly good news but there are a few clouds in the sky: the National Science Foundation will see very modest increases under the bill, and the defense research accounts are essentially flat-funded.
Fiscal Year 2020 Appropriations May, Sort of, be Moving…Maybe…
/In: Funding, FY20 Appropriations, Policy, Research /by Brian MosleyRegular readers of the Policy Blog will recall that we have been keeping track of the Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations process. The same readers will also remember that the bottleneck for completing the work on next year’s Federal budget has been the Senate. This isn’t unusual, the Senate’s tradition of seeking compromise and agreement, between the majority and minority, means that the gears move much slower (in comparison, the House works as a relatively fast “majority rules” chamber).
Appropriations Update: Senate NSF Numbers are Out but the Endgame for FY20 is very, very complicated…
/In: FY20 Appropriations, Research /by Brian MosleyIn our continuing series looking at Congressional actions on the Fiscal Year 2020 budget, we finally have a look at where the Senate Appropriations Committee stands on funding for some key sciences agencies, with the National Science Foundation being the most important. The basic synopsis is the Senate supplies positive numbers in their blueprint but they are not as generous as what the House of Representatives provided in May.
