ACS Joins CNSF letter to Office of Management and Budget for FY25

November 3, 2023

Dear Directors Young and Prabhakar,

As you prepare the fiscal year 2025 (FY25) budget submission for the Na:onal Science Foundation (NSF), the Coaliton for Natonal Science Funding (CNSF) appreciates the opportunity to submit our funding priorities for the agency. CNSF is an alliance of more than 140 professional organizations, scientific societies, universities, and businesses united in our advocacy for the NSF.

NSF plays a critical role in advancing many of the FY25 research and development priorities articulated by the Biden-Harris Administration, including advancing trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI), promotng national security and stability, addressing climate change, supporting better healthcare outcomes, reducing barriers to parcipation in STEM education and its workforce, and bolstering our nation’s future economic competiveness.¹

CNSF urges the Administration to request $16.7 billion for NSF in FY25, which is the level of funding for NSF research and education investments authorized in the CHIPS and Science Act (P.L. 117-167).

Although NSF funding has not yet reached the funding levels authorized in the CHIPS and Science Act for FY23 and FY24, we urge the Biden-Harris Administration not to give up on the important goals set forth in this law. The U.S. scientific enterprise must have long-term sustained funding increases if we are to maintain our strategic advantage and global leadership in research, new technologies, innovation, and economic competiveness and national security.

We understand the difficult fiscal environment and the delays to ongoing FY24 appropriations. However, the current level of NSF funding and the proposed NSF funding in the House and Senate draa FY24 appropriations bills are far below what is needed for NSF to ensure the success of newly established transformational programs such as the Regional Innovation Engines (RIE) and Entrepreneurial Fellowships while protecting core research, education, and infrastructure investments that sustain our research and innovation ecosystem.

Spreading the benefits of basic research and technology-fueled innovation across America, and expanding participation in the research ecosystem, were key aims of the CHIPS and Science Act. NSF will be unable to expand the RIE program beyond the inital Engines, to be announced later this fall, without new investments. NSF also needs substantially more funding to expand and broaden participatin in STEM and to enable increased research capacity at emerging institutions.

Inadequate funding also threatens NSF’s success in AI and other areas. AI investments in NSF must be sustained, and further research is needed to tackle additional application areas and continue to advance AI transparency, reliability, and trustworthiness. AI is rapidly evolving, and we must not pull back our efforts to safely harness this technology for agriculture, education, national security, health, resilience, and other critical societal needs. The difficult fiscal climate is already leading to a problematic scaling back in investment in the NSF AI Institute program. Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Education have scaled back their participation in the program. Flat funding additionally threatens the creation of needed infrastructure for AI research, such as the National AI Research Resource that was recently recommended by a congressionally-mandated interagency task force.²

As final FY24 NSF funding remains unresolved in Congress, we want to emphasize the importance of the Administration working with Congress to increase funding for NSF and renew its commitment to the funding goals of the CHIPS and Science Act in the Administration’s FY25 budget submission.

The Nation can no longer wait to invest the NSF’s critical research, education, and infrastructure programs that bolster our nation’s competitiveness and security. We look forward to working with you to support NSF funding in FY25.

Sincerely,

The Coalition for National Science Funding