When he gaveled the House Committee on Science to order in mid‐February to listen to Bush administration officials testify about the proposed fiscal year 2007 science budget, Representative Sherwood Boehlert (R‐NY) began by saying, “It's a rare thing to think of a budget hearing as a time of celebration, but I think that that's how we should view this morning's proceedings.” With a budget that proposes big increases for three science research agencies—the Department of Energy's Office of Science, NSF, and NIST—those advocating more spending on basic research were indeed celebrating.