Climate change omitted from list of White House research and development priorities
6 August 2018 (Silencing Science Tracker) – On 31 July 2018, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum outlining the Trump Administration’s research and development (R&D) “priorities.” The memorandum is intended to “provide[] guidance to [federal] agencies as they formulate their Fiscal Year 2020 budget submissions.”The memorandum indicates that federal R&D funding should be “focused primarily on basic and early-stage applied research.” It identifies eight “R&D Priority Areas” as follows:
- Security of the American people;
- American leadership in artificial intelligence, quantum information sciences, and strategic computing;
- American connectivity and autonomy;
- American manufacturing;
- American space exploration and commercialization;
- American energy dominance;
- American medical innovation; and
- American agriculture.
Notably absent from the memorandum is any discussion of climate change. This is a marked departure from previous versions, issued during the Obama administration, which identified “global climate change” as a key R&D priority.
Climate Change Omitted from List of White House R&D Priorities