The Office of Science and Technology Policy in 2013 would gain back a little more than half the funding it lost in a major one-time cut last year, boosting its budget amid several decreases President Obama proposed for White House offices, in Obama's budget blueprint.

The president's fiscal 2013 budget would provide about $5.8 million to OSTP, restoring about $1.3 million of the $2.1 million the office lost in last year's omnibus. The 30 percent cut was enacted at the behest of Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), who aimed to punish OSTP Director John Holdren for holding a meeting with the Chinese science and technology minister.

The science office is thus functioning this year on a budget that advocacy groups say could cripple research governmentwide. To avoid layoffs, OSTP has instituted a hiring freeze and prioritized activities required by law.

At a budget briefing yesterday on research funding, Holdren said many employees in his office have taken on the work of two.

"We have obviously struggled to deal with the heavy budget cuts we got. It has made us leaner and, as they say, perhaps also leaner and meaner," he said. But he added that his office would "get a lot more done in 2013" if Congress boosted its funding.

The White House budget would add three more employees to the 29 funded under OSTP's budget now. In fiscal 2011, the office had 33 employees. That hiring would take up the lion's share of the increase.

But Obama's budget is unlikely to get far in an election year. Whether Congress will increase OSTP's budget for next year is unclear; the office's deep cut for fiscal 2012 seemed a one-time fluke.

Wolf, who chairs the House Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, championed a 50 percent cut to the office because of Holdren's meeting with Chinese officials, which he said violated a provision in the 2011 spending bill. That bill prevented NASA and OSTP from spending money "to develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement or execute a bilateral policy, program, order or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company."

A Government Accountability Office analyst told lawmakers that Holdren had violated the provision, but Holdren followed a legal opinion from the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel. That office concluded that Wolf's language was unconstitutional.

Nevertheless, the meeting cost OSTP dearly. Last year's omnibus split the difference between the 50 percent cut in the House bill and the 9 percent cut in the Senate version.

The White House 2013 budget would cut about 12 percent compared to OSTP's fiscal 2011 funding level of $6.6 million. It's not the only spot in the executive office to take a hit.

Obama's executive residence, for example, would function on $200,000 less than the 2012 budget amount, at about $13.2 million. The Council on Environmental Quality would be cut by about $50,000, to $3.1 million.

The Office of Management and Budget, however, would see an increase -- from about $89.5 million to $91.5 million. That would mean six more employees and increases to its national security programs, but not its natural resources programs.