Read the text below which is entitled "Congress Caps another Disappointing Year" in order to answer questions 27 to 30.

Congress Caps another Disappointing Year
Source: www.aaas.org
4th January 2006 (Adapted)

    On December 30, nearly three months into the fiscal year, President Bush signed the last two Fiscal Year 2006 appropriations bills into law, bringing the FY 2006 appropriation process to a close. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) estimates that the federal Research & Development (R&D) portfolio totals $134.8 billion in 2006, a $2.2 billion or 1.7 percent increase. But 97 percent of the increase goes to just two specific areas: defense weapons development and human space exploration technologies. Funding for all other federal R&D programs collectively will barely increase, and will fall nearly 2 percent after adjusting for inflation. Leaving out large federal investments in development, congressional appropriations for basic and applied research total $57.0 billion, an increase of $1.0 billion or 1.8 percent over 2005. But NASA applied research on human space flight technologies accounts for a majority of the increase,  leaving most agency research portfolios with modest increases falling short of inflation, or cuts. Many flagship federal science agencies have disappointing budgets in 2006.