Science Policy without Science or Policy
Federal spending for research and development — less, more, or what for?
Roger Pielke Jr.
Aug 28, 2025
Writing almost 20 years ago, science policy scholar Dan Sarewitz made a remarkable observation about federal support for research and development (R&D):1
Source: Sarewitz 2007.
One of the most astonishing aspects of science policy over the past 30 or so years is the consistency of R&D funding levels as a proportion of the discretionary budget [Figure above]. (Discretionary spending is the part of the budget that is subject to annual congressional decisions about spending levels.) Since the mid-1970s, nondefense R&D budgets have constituted between 10 and 12% of total nondefense discretionary spending. Total R&D (defense and non-defense) shows a similar stability at 13 to 14% of the total discretionary budget. This consistency tells us that marginal changes in the R&D budget are tightly coupled to trends in discretionary spending as a whole.
Sarewitz argued that the long-term stability in R&D funding can be traced, in part, to a bipartisan consensus that R&D, especially support for basic research, was broadly in the public interest. He explained:
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/science-policy-without-science-or
