Science funding in supplemental inked by president

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Melisa Norr, writing at the outstanding CRA Policy Blog

The Emergency Supplemental for FY08 — the last chance to rectify the appropriations shortfall for science caused by the FY 08 Omnibus Appropriation — has been signed by the President and is now law. Though science funding made it into the supplemental — one of the few non-defense items in the bill — the win for the science community is somewhat symbolic. The amount included ($400 million — see here for a breakdown) is only about a third of the total shortfall of the FY08 appropriations, but it is nevertheless a sign that Congress and the White House understand the importance of research funding and are willing to back up their vocal support with some additional funding.

As has been pointed out before, $400 is way (way) less than what was called for in the COMPETES Act foofarah last summer — $43B over three years — and doesn’t appear to include any of the HPC stuff in the Act (summary here).

If you want to read the details yourself its HR 2642.