University of Wisconsin–Madison

President Biden Releases FY 2025 Budget Request

On March 11, President Biden released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget proposal. The proposal includes funding increases for several science agencies and programs important to UW–Madison. The White House prepared a fact sheet on the President’s Budget, and the Office of Management and Budget prepared supporting materials, including analytical perspectives and appendices. The White House also has posted details on the President’s research funding priorities. SUMMARY The President’s FY 2025 budget request largely adheres to the budget caps agreed to by Congress and the White House as part of the 2023 debt ceiling negotiation. Overall, the request totals $7.3 trillion – a 4.7% increase over the current budget. It seeks to boost defense spending by 1% and non-defense discretionary spending by 2.4%. Highlights of the request include:
  • 48.3 billion in base funding for the National Institutes of Health (an $800 million or a 1.7% increase over FY23)
  • $1.5 billion for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)
  • $10.2 billion for the National Science Foundation (12.4% more than the FY24 enacted levels), including $900 million for the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships and $205 million for NSF’s Regional Innovation Engines program
  • $8.6 billion for the Department of Energy Office of Science (a 4% increase over FY24)
  • $7.6 billion for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (a 3% increase over FY24)
  • $816 million for the Institute of Education Sciences (an 8% increase over FY23)
  • $475 million for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (a 7% increase over FY24)
  • Concerningly, the budget includes cuts for basic research and science and technology activities at the Department of Defense.
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) prepared a detailed analysis of the proposal, as well as an agency breakdown and comparison to current fiscal year.  (Note: not all agencies have final FY 2024 numbers yet as Congress is still negotiating final spending bills for many departments.) PROCESS The President’s budget request, while an important policy and political marker, is a blueprint, or suggestion — Congress has the constitutional authority to write the spending bills that fund the federal government. Both the House and Senate will soon hold hearings to consider different aspects of the President’s budget. Top administration officials will testify before Congress, and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will craft the FY 2025 spending bills this summer. Committee consideration of those bills will likely begin even sooner. Please contact Ben Miller at ben.miller@wisc.edu if you have questions about a specific program or agency FY 2025 budget request.