So, back when Congress was late with its fiscal year 2012 budget, Congressional appropriators got mad at the White House for scientific meetings with China. There was disagreement over whether those activities violated legal bans against cooperation with China. The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) had its fiscal year 2012 budget cut by 32 percent (roughly $2.1 million dollars).
Apparently the fences have been mended. ScienceInsider is reporting that Representative Frank Wolf will approve the full amount of the fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget for OSTP – an increase of 30 percent over 2012. In return, OSTP will give 30 days notice of any bilateral meetings with China and asserts it will protect U.S. interests in any sharing of information or technology (that phrase seems to cover a multitude of possibilities).
Those who remember their math(s) will recognize that a 30 percent increase will not completely undo a 30 percent cut, much less a 32 percent cut. The FY 2013 request is $5.85 million, an increase of $1.35 million over the FY 2012 budget, but almost $800,000 less than the FY 2011 budget. For a point of comparison, the total federal research and development request for FY 2013 is $142.2 billion.
Pasco Phronesis 