SSTI Digest

The FY09 enacted budget includes $38.6 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a $3 billion increase over the 2008 appropriation. The Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) received $18.1 million for personnel compensation and benefits. The FY09 budget includes $58 million ($6.5 million increase) for Research and Technology contracts, grants, and expenses of programs of research and studies related to housing and urban problems.

The FY09 omnibus awards $15.3 billion to the Department of Labor, a 4.1 percent increase over the previous fiscal year.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) received $9.4 billion, a 4.8 percent increase from FY08. About $2.97 billion supports grants to states for training and employment services. These state grants are divided between $862 million for adult training, $924 for youth activities, and $1.18 billion for training dislocated workers. Of the $489 million appropriated for federal training and employment service programs, $283 million is allocated for the dislocated workers assistance national reserve.

The FY 2009 Department of Transportation's (DOT) total budgetary resources are $67.2 billion. Funding for the NextGen technology is more than doubled, providing $688 million for the transformation from radar-based to satellite-based air traffic systems to help meet the nation's rapidly growing demand for air travel.

The FY09 enacted funding for all research, engineering and development at the Federal Aviation Administration is $171 million, to be derived from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and to remain available until September 30, 2011.

The FY09 enacted budget provides $1.16 billion for the Treasury Department, not including the IRS. Though the overall appropriation for the department dropped, TBED-related funding increased.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), received $7.6 billion in FY09, $174 million above the 2008 appropriation. Science and Technology activities, including research and development activities, are funded at $790 million in FY09, $30 million above the FY08 appropriation. Science and Technology programs include:

NASA received $17.8 billion in FY09, a 2.2 percent increase from the previous fiscal year's amount of $17.2 billion. It is distributed as follows:

In FY09, the National Science Foundation received $6.49 billion, a 5.9 percent increase of $363 million over FY08. More than three-fourths of the total supports non-defense research and related activities, 13 percent will be for education and human resources, and 2.3 percent of the total is for major research equipment and facilities construction.

While the omnibus bill does not specify the funds going towards the various research components within the NSF, it mentions by name certain projects and their levels of funding:

Several regional commissions and authorities receive annual federal appropriations for economic improvement activities within specific geographic regions, including the Appalachian Regional Commission, Delta Regional Authority and Denali Commission.

The enacted budget sets funding for the Small Business Administration (SBA) at $546.6 million for FY09, excluding funds for the disaster loan program. Most of SBA's capital programs and its contracting and counseling programs have had their appropriations boosted above FY08 levels.

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Inconceivable? Unconscionable? Inexcusable? Which word best conveys what is happening to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program? Perhaps all of them. The SBIR program will expire March 20 unless Congress acts before that date.

No SBIR-related legislation has been considered by either chamber of Congress since the current session began in early January, and without action by Congress by March 20, the program expires. SBIR could be attached to some other bill before the deadline, but there is no indication at this point that that is going to occur.

Several of Gov. Tim Kaine's energy and job creation proposals were included in the approved revisions to Virginia's current two-year budget passed by the General Assembly last month. Lawmakers, faced with a projected $ 3.7 billion deficit, made revisions and incorporated federal stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to amend the budget.

Legislators passed a measure proposed by Gov. Kaine to merge the Innovative Technology Authority (ITA) and the Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Commission into a single entity named the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority.