I can't answer why, but I would suggest it has very little to do with the government spending on research, or in the way it allocates it annually vs 4 year blocks.

I have noted in the past that I do enjoy how intense the FTC and other consumer protection style agencies get when Democrats run the whitehouse, ideally companies would behave because if they dont the institution that has a monopoly on violence will club em really good, so to speak. IMO Citizens united and the way we fund the political game has broken the incentives to being a company on good merit rather than on legalized corruption.

Yet you ignore that when the Republicans are in power (they are very well supported by capitalist interests) they try to slash all the regulations - because money only cares about money and wants more money. And the money LOVES corruption because it gets you more money.

Capitalism without regulation is gangsterism. With regulation it's barely-controlled gangsterism.