国会可能会在今年12月错过数十亿美元的筹码和科学研究目标

Earlier this year Congress passed theCHIPS And Science Act：一项旨在确保美国半导体制造业，增强美国科学投资并培养下一代STEM人才的立法。

But at the core of that legislation are aggressive spending targets for the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE SC), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These targets tee all of these agencies up for sustained long-term growth, but国会必须提供实际的美元to make it happen. Now, amid alooming funding deadline12月16日，国会承担着大幅不足其两党愿望的风险。

为了增加当前拨款和理想芯片目标之间的当前缺口，FAS产生了Ashort report breaking down key programs and provisions通过代理。在下面阅读以获取主要收获的摘要，或download now用于完整报告。

What is CHIPS and Science?

The CHIPS And Science Act has some of its original roots in大约三年前的电话创建一个新的技术理事会在NSF, ramp up federal science funding, and create regional tech hubs around the country. These investments are still at the final law’s core, along with policies to achieve additional goals like achieving energy security and fostering STEM talent. Collective program changes in the law offer the potential to boost domestic manufacturing, tackle supply-chain vulnerabilities, and power the workforce of the future in emerging industries.

A key aspect of CHIPS And Science is the inclusion in Section 10387 of a list of 10 critical technology areas (including AI, quantum science, robotics, biotech, and others) and five societal challenge areas (like national security, industrial productivity, and climate change). These priorities are intended to guide investments by the new NSF technology directorate, and inform other activities like长期战略制定。

Again, a key component of CHIPS And Science is rising spending targets, or授权，从当前财政年度（2023财年）到2027财年。第一年，NSF，DOE SC和NIST预定了28％的同比增长28％（请参见下图））。但这只是一个目标，而不能保证实际的资金会到来。

输入拨款

这些机构是通过年度拨款法案资助的，通常在夏季国会标记，并在每年秋天最终确定。迄今为止，the House has completed workon six out of twelve annual spending bills, while Senate Democrats have released a一轮建议that have yet to receive necessary bipartisan action.

How are things shaping up for the three research agencies included in CHIPS? While FY 2023 appropriations for the three agencies would provide at least moderate year-over-year boosts, they’re also substantially short of the aspirational targets set thus far. In the aggregate,正如我们在报告中显示的那样截至2022年11月，NSF，DOE SC和NIST的拨款目前为24亿美元，比参议院的两党筹码目标少11％，而众议院则为32亿美元或15％。

立法者仍将有机会弥补this ground in conference talks for the final omnibus, which should arrive very soon. Science advocates, including universities, companies, and science societies, have been at work in recent monthscalling for robust appropriations。Robust funding closer to the CHIPS targets will ultimately put U.S. scientists and companies in a better position to compete and win in fields with emerging technology on the global stage.

代理细节

对于NSF和DOE SC而言，拨款短缺基于相当广泛的基础，而NIST则更狭窄。这是对每种拨款状态的快速回顾；更多，查看完整报告。

National Science Foundation: NSF forms a cornerstone of federal R&D and is the leading funder for non-medical research at U.S Universities. It’s particularly prominent in research and STEM education in disciplines like chemistry that undergird excellence in the technology priorities identified in Section 10387.

Currently, House and Senate appropriations are $2.3 billion and $1.6 billion short of the CHIPS And Science authorizations, respectively – shortfalls that一些专家警告可能会消除美国的竞争野心。这包括主要NSF研究帐户的至少7.38亿美元的短缺，这对于确保NSF拥有足够的资源来促进现有计划很重要。和allow the new technology directorate to get off to the running start Congress intended. In addition, STEM education appropriations are $700 million shy of CHIPS in the House and $623 million in the Senate. A few of many areas that could do with a top-up include:

• 中期基础设施。Appropriators have allocated some funding, but CHIPS targeted an additional unfunded $55 million for university infrastructure projects with a cost between $20 million and $100 million, representing an underserved subset of science infrastructure investment. The existing program is significantly oversubscribed.
• Entrepreneurial Fellowships。新局被指示建立奖学金计划，为科学家提供企业家培训（与此不同，第一天项目建议），在五年内授权为1.25亿美元。资金将授予科学家和工程师的奖学金，以有希望的想法能够在学术界，工业，政府和其他最终用户之间建立联系。
• Robert Noyce Teacher Fellowships.该奖学金提供津贴，奖学金和计划支持，以准备和招募高技能的STEM专业人员成为高需求地区的K-12教师，并且在两个钱伯斯的目标中至少低于目标。

Office of Science:DOE SC is the largest funder of the physical sciences, and pursues several crosscutting research initiatives directly aligned with CHIPS technology priorities, including in microelectronics, quantum science, critical materials, and other areas. This work is spread over the Office’s six major research programs, appropriations for most of which are well below the CHIPS targets (see graph above). Overall, House and Senate appropriations are currently $902 million and $802 million short of the authorizations established in CHIPS, respectively.

• 融合科学funding is $257 million below CHIPS at the House level and $282 million below in the Senate. Among CHIPS priorities are an authorization of $35 million in FY 2023 for designs and technology roadmaps for a pilot fusion plant. It also authorizes a research program and innovation center in high-performance computing for fusion.
• 基本能源科学该众议院的计划为1.9亿美元，参议院的计划为1.45亿美元。最大的研究计划为几个芯片和科学技术领域的基本科学学科提供了支持。除其他外，法律授权储能研究（2023财年授权为1.2亿美元），每年5000万美元用于煤炭富裕地区的碳材料和储存研究。
• 高级科学计算研究到目前为止，在拨款中至少低于筹码目标。Chips在2023财年以1亿美元的价格授权了一项量子网络基础设施计划，并在2023财年扩大量子硬件和研究云的访问计划。

NIST.The agency’s R&D activities cover several CHIPS And Science technology priorities including cybersecurity, advanced communications, AI, quantum science, and biotechnology. NIST also boasts a wide-ranging system of manufacturing extension centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, which help thousands of U.S. manufacturers grow and innovate every year. Topline NIST appropriations to date have gotten reasonably close to CHIPS targets in the House, and far exceed the target in the Senate proposal, though this is primarily driven by construction project earmarks. Still, appropriations so far for NIST’s primary lab research account are not far from CHIPS And Science targets.

On the other hand,NIST制造计划lag well behind the CHIPS targets, including shortfalls in appropriations for theHollings Manufacturing Extension Partnershipof $63 million in the House and $75 million in the Senate; and a $79 million shortfall in the House for美国制造业资金。

Next Steps

为了使国会从拨款的当前状况转变为最终交易（希望）更接近筹码，必须发生一些事情。First, leadership has to agree on an overall spending topline or what’s known as a “302(a)” allocation, with robust increases for nondefense spending in particular: all three of NSF, DOE SC, and NIST are funded via the nondefense budget, and a good nondefense number is necessary to create room for budget boosts to fulfill the CHIPS vision.

Second, Congress will have to provide adequate increases for CHIPS-crucial spending bills – specifically, the Commerce-Justice-Science bill (for NSF and NIST, as well as other CHIPS priorities like the tech hubs) and the Energy & Water bill (for DOE programs), through are what is known as “302(b)” allocations. With competing interests and priorities making claims on taxpayer dollars in every bill, its incumbent for appropriations leaders to ensure spending bills are big enough to provide room for CHIPS competitiveness growth.

最后，立法者和工作人员将不得不就代理和程序性支出水平做出最终决定。有一个千载难逢的机会，可以为获得筹码授权的美国技术领导力增添重要的计划 - 但时钟却在滴答作响。