Editing National Science Foundation (section)

===Budget and performance history===
Since the technology boom of the 1980s, the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] has generally embraced the premise that government-funded [[basic research]] is essential for the nation's economic health and global competitiveness, and for national defense. This support has manifested in an expanding National Science Foundation budget from $1 billion in 1983 to $8.28 billion in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-10 |title=Final FY20 Appropriations: National Science Foundation |url=https://ww2.aip.org/fyi/2020/final-fy20-appropriations-national-science-foundation |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=AIP |language=en}}</ref>

NSF has published annual reports since 1950, which since the new millennium have been two reports, variously called "Performance Report" and "Accountability Report" or "Performance Highlights" and "Financial Highlights"; the latest available FY 2013 Agency Financial Report was posted December 16, 2013, and the six-page FY 2013 Performance and Financial Highlights was posted March 25, 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/about/history/annual-reports.jsp|title=NSF Annual Reports|publisher=NSF|access-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref> More recently, the NSF has focused on obtaining high [[return on investment]] from their spending on scientific research.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FY 2014 Budget Request to Congress – NSF Budget Requests to Congress and Annual Appropriations {{!}} NSF – National Science Foundation |url=https://new.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2014 |access-date=2024-09-06 |website=new.nsf.gov |language=en}}</ref>

Various bills have sought to direct funds within the NSF. In 1981, the [[Office of Management and Budget|Office of Management and Budget (OMB)]] introduced a proposal to reduce the NSF social sciences directorate's budget by 75%.<ref name=":54">{{Cite journal |last=Moffitt |first=Robert A. |date=2016 |title=In Defense of the NSF Economics Program |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43855708 |journal=The Journal of Economic Perspectives |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=213–233 |doi=10.1257/jep.30.3.213 |jstor=43855708 |issn=0895-3309}}</ref> Economist Robert A. Moffit suggests a connection between this proposal and Democratic Senator [[William Proxmire|William Proxmire's]] [[Golden Fleece Award]] series criticizing "frivolous" government spending — Proxmire's first Golden Fleece had been awarded to the NSF in 1975 for granting $84,000 to a social science project investigating why people fall in love. Ultimately, the OMB's 75% reduction proposal failed, but the NSF Economics Program budget did fall 40%.<ref name=":54" /> In 2012, [[political science]] research was barred from NSF funding by the passage of the [[Jeff Flake|Flake]] Amendment,<ref name=":55">{{Cite journal |last1=Uscinski |first1=Joseph E. |last2=Klofstad |first2=Casey A. |date=2013 |title=Determinants of Representatives' Votes on the Flake Amendment to End National Science Foundation Funding of Political Science Research |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43284388 |journal=PS: Political Science and Politics |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=557–561 |doi=10.1017/S1049096513000504 |jstor=43284388 |issn=1049-0965}}</ref> breaking the precedent of granting the NSF autonomy to determine its own priorities.<ref name=":55" />