Computing Research Policy Blog

The Computing Research Association (or CRA) has been involved in shaping public policy of relevance to computing research for more than two decades. More recently the CRA Government Affairs program has enhanced its efforts to help the members of the computing research community contribute to the public debate knowledgeably and effectively.


Tag Archive: NIST


President’s Budget Request a Mixed Bag for Science, but it Could Have Been Much Worse


What a difference a budget deal makes…

The President’s budget request for FY 2019, released yesterday, includes some modest gains and some big losses for Federal science agencies — details below, but on the whole a rather mixed bag for those who believe in the importance of the Federal investment in fundamental research. But it could have been much worse. 

Budget Round-Up: NSF, Defense, and NIST Budget Requests Show Mixed Bag for Research


To round out the President’s 2017 (FY17) Budget Requests for key science research accounts, which were released in February, we wanted to cover the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense (DOD), and the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST). Combined these three accounts cover the vast majority of the Federal government’s investment in IT and computing research.

CRA Statement Opposing America COMPETES Reauthorization Act


The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology is currently marking up the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2015 (H.R. 1806), introduced by Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX) — a bill designed to provide three key science agencies with authorizations for funding for FY 2016 and FY 2017 and implement other policies. The bill is cast as […]

“Cromnibus” Would Boost NSF, DOE Computing, DARPA and DOD Basic Research


Tonight the House narrowly passed an omnibus FY15 appropriations measure that would fund 11 of 12 annual appropriations bills and provide stop-gap funding for the 12th (the Homeland Security bill), a move that would provide increases for the National Science Foundation and for key computing programs at the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Senate […]

NIST FY15 Request


In our continuing series on the Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) Presidential Budget request, we next come to NIST, or the National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST is on the smaller size of the science agencies, budget-authority-speaking, but it is still a significant contributor for IT research. The main part of the agency that CRA […]

Federal R&D Investments Up Overall in President’s FY13 Budget Request


The President’s budget request for FY 2013 is out and the White House has prepared a handy summary of the R&D portions. Some highlights: The National Science Foundation would increase 4.8 percent compared to FY 12, to $7.4 billion in FY13. (Research accounts up 3.9 percent) The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development program […]

Somewhat Surprisingly, NSF Fares Well in FY12 Final Approps Agreement


Update (11/17/11): The minibus was approved in both the House and Senate and will head to the President for his signature! Original Post: Congressional appropriators tonight filed the final conference report for the so-called “minibus” FY12 appropriations bill, representing the final agreed-upon spending numbers for FY12 for the Agriculture; Commerce, Justice, Science; and Transportation, Housing […]