Republican presidential nominee John McCain would exempt funding for scientific research from the across-the-board federal spending freeze he’s promised on the campaign trail, a campaign adviser said Tuesday.

The McCain budget plan includes “a specific carve-out for spending on science,” said Ike Brannon, a senior policy adviser to the McCain campaign.

Sen. McCain (Ariz.) has emphasized his intention to hold flat federal spending on programs not connected to defense, veterans’ programs or homeland security as a key part of his fiscal platform.

“I recommend a spending freeze that — except for defense, Veterans Affairs, and some other vital programs, we’ll just have to have [an] across-the-board freeze,” McCain said during his second presidential debate against Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), the Democratic candidate, on Oct. 7.

The McCain campaign, however, has committed to upping funding for federal research agencies, Brannon said at a briefing sponsored by Research!America, an advocacy group made up of hundreds of organizations including universities, pharmaceutical companies, physician societies and patient groups.

McCain will pay for the increases in science funding by cutting other programs, Brannon explained.

According to the candidate’s website, he would conduct a “comprehensive review of all programs” when drawing up his budget.

Research funding for federal agencies is of immense importance to influential and well-funded interests such as those that make up Research!America’s membership.

Academic research centers depend on financial support from the federal government and lobby Congress heavily for grants and ever-increasing funding streams. Technology companies and drug makers rely on federal programs to pay for the speculative, basic research that serves as the foundation for the work they do to create new products and bring them to market.

“Basic research is just the stuff that’s not going to be done by the market, but it’s definitely where I think the government gets the most bang for its buck,” said Brannon, a former adviser to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and former Treasury Department official.

Though basic research does not appear on its face to pay dividends to the government, the downstream benefits are evident when new technologies emerge, Obama campaign policy adviser Tim Westmoreland said. “If you move to technology research, you can show cost effectiveness … you can see,” said Westmoreland, a former Clinton administration health official and former aide to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).

Brannon highlighted McCain’s support for the “America Competes Act,” a law enacted in August 2007 with bipartisan support that, among other things, will double federal spending on physical science research by 2016.