GENERAL OVERVIEW:
The President presented the administration’s proposed budget for FY21 on February 10, 2020. Entitled “A Budget for America’s Future,” the document and other budget materials are available on the Office of Management and Budget website. The overview below and the accompanying summaries and analyses for individual agencies are based on the administration’s budget documents. All figures denote budget authority unless otherwise noted.
The administration’s FY21 proposed budget sets overall spending at $4.8 trillion, including $1.26 trillion in total discretionary funding budget authority (excluding Overseas Contingency Operations and other cap adjustments), which is a $37 billion below above FY20.
The budget seeks $4.4 trillion in savings over a decade. Within overall discretionary spending, the budget includes $590 billion in non-defense discretionary spending. This is a 5 percent cut below FY20 levels. For defense discretionary spending, the budget includes $741 billion, including the new Space Force. Due to the Administration’s cost-savings initiatives, the proposed spending levels fall below the two-year budget caps deal which set FY21 non-defense discretionary spending at $627 billion and defense discretionary spending at $672 billion.
Under the budget proposal, funding for artificial intelligence (AI) research would increase to $830 million, approximately 70-percent increase over President Trump’s FY20 budget proposal. The budget calls for increased AI and quantum computing research in multiple agencies such as the Department of Energy, NSF, and NIH. During a press call, Michael Kratsios, Chief Technology Officer at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, stated that details on the enacted budget levels on AI and quantum computing for FY20 are not available yet but are expected this summer.
AAU issued a statement on the administration’s budget.
View AAU’s FY21 Funding Priorities table here.
Download AAU Summary of the Trump Administration FY21 Proposed Budget