The battlelines have been drawn over the US budget; and science funding hangs in the balance. This morning the White House posted US President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget request to Congress. It includes increases for several science agencies, setting Obama on a collision course with the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives, which on Friday released the text of a bill that would cut many of the same organizations.

Obama proposed boosts to the National Institutes of Health ($1,045 million or a 3.4% increase relative to the current funding level and the 2010 budget), the National Science Foundation ($895 million or a 13.0% increase), the US Department of Energy’s Office of Science ($452 million or a 9.1% increase) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology ($141 million or a 16.3% increase). He has kept NASA’s budget level at $18,724 million. But, he cut the Environmental Protection Agency by $1,308 million or 12.7%.

The budget request is directed to the US House of Representatives, which appropriates funds through bills that must pass the House and the US Senate to become law. As we reported February 11, the House of Representatives’ Appropriations committee slates several of these agencies for deep cuts in the bill they’ve sent to the House floor this week, which covers what remains of fiscal year 2011; it’s unlikely Republicans will want to roll any of those cuts back for 2012. Because the fiscal year 2011 budget has yet to pass, science agencies are currently being funded by the latest in a series of continuing resolutions that contain frozen 2010 budget levels.

Here’s our current summary of what Obama is requesting for science agencies:

These figures are based on a print copy of the budget picked up from OMB at about 9.40am (EST) this morning. Slightly different figures may become available throughout the day as the agencies hold press briefings. Stay with Nature.com for unfolding budget news.

Reported with Gwyneth Zakaib

Image:Barack Obama’s 2012 Budget Request