President Donald Trump plans to gut American science. Released today, his full budget proposal for the 2018 fiscal year requests that billions of dollars be slashed from the agencies tasked with funding and conducting research that drives innovation and keeps Americans healthy and safe.  

The budget proposal confirms fears that Trump intends to cut nearly $5.8 billion in funding from the National Institutes of Health — about 18 percent of the agency’s total budget. It also cuts hundreds of millions of dollars from infectious disease programs at the CDC, and an additional $841 million from the National Science Foundation, which funds basic scientific research.

Despite looking catastrophic for science, Congress still technically owns the government’s purse, and could shred Trump’s proposal through its own budget process. More environmentally friendly lawmakers have already started recycling it:

Infectious disease research would be slashed by hundreds of millions of dollars

• The budget proposal calls for $333 million in cuts to three CDC programs aimed at curbing the spread of infectious diseases such as the flu, HIV / AIDS, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and zoonotic diseases like Zika virus that jump from animals to humans.
• An additional $136 million in cuts for the CDC Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response — about 10 percent of the office’s budget. This is the CDC office that responds to public health emergencies like outbreaks, epidemics, or “chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.”
• An 18 percent cut of $76.3 million to the CDC’s Center for Global Health, which coordinates international public health efforts aimed at eradicating infectious and chronic diseases worldwide.
• Diseases spread by vectors like mosquitoes and ticks — like the Zika virus — get a small funding boost, although the exact amount isn’t clear. The budget justification posted by the Department of Health and Human Services — which includes the CDC — describes a funding bump of $23 million for vector-borne diseases. But the CDC’s version only notes an increase of $12.5 million for research and prevention.

Environmental health programs cut by nearly 28 percent

• The CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health is responsible for studying health conditions related to environmental exposures. That includes lead toxicity, radiation poisoning, asthma, respiratory diseases related to air pollution — even the health effects of climate change. But the Trump administration suggests cutting nearly 28 percent of the Center’s funding — a total reduction of $60 million. Of the remaining $157 million, $35 million is earmarked for “lead prevention and safe water activities.”

Research grants at the NIH cut by 21 percent, or $3.7 billion

• The budget proposes to cut 21 percent, or $3.7 billion, of research funding that the National Institutes of Health awards to scientists around the country. This could have a chilling effect on biomedical innovation — both at research institutions and in industry, since many drugs originate at universities. One analysis found that more than half of the top 26 groundbreaking medications developed in the last 25 or so years emerged from publicly funded research.
• It also caps how much the NIH can pay for universities’ indirect costs — which cover the utilities and infrastructure that scientists need to do research. These can include electricity, water, internet, and salaries for administrative and maintenance staff. When the NIH awards a researcher a grant, the university or research institution negotiates separately to establish how much the NIH owes it for indirect costs. Trump’s budget proposes to cap the amount a university is entitled to as a percentage of the research grant awarded — but it wasn’t specific about exactly what that cap was.
• The 2018 portion of the $4.8 billion that the 21st Century Cures Act allocated to special funding initiatives such as the Precision Medicine Initiative, the BRAIN Initiative, the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot, and regenerative medicine will be distributed as planned.
• The Fogarty International Center, a global health center that trains American and international scientists and clinicians to do biomedical research in developing countries, will be eliminated.

National Science Foundation cut by 11.2 percent, or $841 million

• The National Science Foundation funds basic science research and education. Cutting its budget by 11.2 percent will mean reducing the number of new grants it can fund each year from 8,800 to 8,000 — making competition for funding even stiffer.  

Environmental Protection Agency’s budget cut by 31 percent, or $2.6 billion

• These cuts include $282 million dollars slashed from EPA science and technology — a 39 percent drop from 2017, and 41 percent from 2016. This money would have funded personnel, travel, lab equipment, and supplies for EPA’s research and development efforts. Apparently the Trump administration doesn’t believe in protecting American jobs when they’re science jobs.

Department of Energy science programs gutted

• The budget proposes $2.4 billion in cuts for Department of Energy programs that “enhance U.S. security and economic growth through transformative science, technology innovation.” That’s a 52 percent drop from 2016 funding levels. The Office for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is among the hardest hit, with a proposed 2018 budget of $636 million — a 69 percent cut of $1.4 billion.  
• The budget for the DOE’s Office of Science — which funds research into computing, high energy and nuclear physics, basic energy sciences, and biology — will also be cut by 16 percent, or $874 million.