SSTI Digest

The Administration's FY 2006 budget request for the Department of Energy (DOE) is $23.4 billion, or $475.4 million (2 percent) less than the FY 2005 request. The decrease is largely absorbed by DOE's Environment budget which, at $7.34 billion, reflects a 6.4 percent decrease over FY05. The Science budget, at $3.46 billion, also would have its funding cut by $136.8 million (3.8 percent). The National Nuclear Security Administration and Energy budgets would experience increases of $233.3 million (2.5 percent) and $73.7 million (3 percent), respectively. The FY06 request for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE), $1.2 billion, reflects a 3.9 percent decrease over the office's FY05 level. EE conducts research, development and deployment activities to advance energy efficiency and clean power technologies and practices. Of the $48.2 million decrease, $26.7 million would be cut from renewable energy activities under the Energy Supply account. The remaining $21.4 million in cuts would come from energy efficiency activities, funded within the Energy Conservation account.…

The $642 billion FY 2006 budget for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reflects an increase of $58 billion over FY 2005, most of which occurs in mandatory spending programs such as Medicare. Discretionary portions of the HHS FY06 budget total $67.2 billion, a decrease of 1 percent from FY05. However, individual discretionary programs such as the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are quite diverse. For example, funding for FDA will increase by $81 million from FY 2005, whereas funding for CDC will decrease by $491 million. The Administration is proposing to terminate three HHS programs related to community and economic development, including the Community Services Block Grants ($637 million in FY 2005) and Community Services Discretionary Programs ($65 million in FY 2005) such as the Urban and Rural Community Economic Development grants and Rural Community Facilities grants. In order to attract highly trained scientists to aid in their research…

The FY 2006 discretionary budget request for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is $34.15 billion, 6.6 percent above the comparable enacted FY 2005 appropriation. In FY06, DHS seeks to consolidate the research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) activities within the DHS Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate. This consolidation, at a one-time cost of $127 million, would bring the scientific and engineering personnel and other RDT&E resources of the department under a single accountable authority. The FY06 budget requests $1.4 billion (22.7 percent increase) for the S&T Directorate to provide leadership for directing, funding and conducting RDT&E and procurement of technology and systems to prevent the importation of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and related weapons and material to protect against and respond to terrorist threats. New initiatives for FY06: National Bio and Agrodefense Facility - $23 million to extend the capabilities of the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center to support RDT&E to…

Big H, little u, little d may provide the most apt description of the priorities in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) FY 2006 request, as cuts to the economic development programs are deep. Housing advocates may not entirely agree with that summation as the agency overall takes an 11 percent cut to total $28.51 billion for FY06; however, nearly every major initiative promoting economic development falls victim to the budget knife. Slated for elimination are Community Development Block Grants ($4.7 billion in FY 2005, including most CDBG set asides), Community Development Loan Guarantees (subsidy and authorization level of $282 million), Brownfields Economic Development Initiative ($24 million), Economic Development Initiatives Special Purpose Projects ($292 million), Neighborhood Network Initiative and Neighborhood Initiative Demonstration (combined $57 million), Renewal Communities, Urban Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities ($10 million), Rural Housing and Economic Development ($24 million), and Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing ($7…

The total FY 2006 budget request for the Department of Interior, as reported in its Budget in Brief, is $14.958 billion, down 6.7 percent from FY 2005. The discretionary budget appropriation request is $10.76 billion, 1 percent less than FY05. There are two research-related items of potential interest: Oil Spill Research Program - $7 million (no change) to support oil pollution research and other duties related to oil spill prevention. The program is run within the Minerals Management Service. U.S. Geological Survey - $934.3 million ($1.95 million decrease) to provide reliable scientific information to: describe and understand the Earth, minimize the loss of life and property from natural disasters, assist others in managing water, biological and other natural resource; and, enhance and protect the quality of life. Biological research would receive a $1.2 million increase for ecological systems mapping and research projects in the Great Lakes, Glen Canyon and regarding invasive plants.

The Administration's FY 2006 budget request of $59.5 billion for the Department of Transportation (DOT) is 1 percent higher than the FY 2005 appropriation. DOT's request would be distributed across the department's five key strategic objectives as follows: Improve safety (26.1 percent); Increase mobility for all Americans (64.5 percent); Increases global transportation connectivity in support of the Nation's economy (0.5 percent); Protect the environment (6.7 percent); and, Support national security (0.9 percent). The balance of 1.3 percent would go toward organizational excellence, according to the DOT Budget in Brief. DOT's FY06 budget request includes a $28 billion funding increase for the Administration's six-year surface transportation re-authorization proposal, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act(SAFETEA) of 2003, from $256 billion to $284 billion in federal resources over the six-year life of the bill. Highlights of the research and development (R&D) portion of the DOT budget request: The FY06 budget…

The Department of Labor's (DOL) discretionary budget request of $11.5 billion for FY 2006 is 4.4 percent less than the FY 2005 appropriation. The agency's payroll, however, would increase by 169 full-time equivalent positions, according to the budget overview. The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) FY06 budget request of $6.36 billion reflects a 5.4 percent decrease from the FY05 appropriation. Highlights of ETA include: High Growth Job Training Grant Program - $5.8 million (new initiative) to prepare workers to take advantage of new and increasing job opportunities in high growth or high demand and economically vital industries and sectors of the economy. The foundation of this initiative is built on partnerships that include the public workforce system, business and industry, education and training providers, and economic development. Community College Initiative - $250 million (no change) to provide community-based job training grants, an employer-focused competitive grant program for job training at community and technical colleges. The request is expected to…

There are only a few programs in the Treasury Department that SSTI monitors for the tech-based economic development community. All are slated for termination or phaseout. The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Program ($31.4 million in FY 2005), the Bank Enterprise Award ($11.4 million in FY 2005), and the CDFI Native Initiatives ($6 million in FY 2005) all would be eliminated as part of the initiative to create a Strengthening American Communities Grant Program within the Department of Commerce (see Multi-Agency Initiatives for details). A request of $8 million is made in FY 2006 for CDFI to administer the New Market Tax Credits ($6.2 million in FY 2005) and phase out the existing CDFI portfolio. New Market Tax Credits permit taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making qualified equity investments in designated Community Development Entities.

The Administration's FY 2006 budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is $7.6 billion, a 5.6 percent decrease from the FY 2005 appropriation. However, the agency's science and technology programs would receive $760.6 million, a 2.2 percent increase over the FY05 appropriation. A $79 million increase is proposed for EPA homeland security efforts, including: $44 million to launch a pilot program of monitoring and surveillance in select cities to provide early warning signs of contamination; An increase of $19.4 million for environmental decontamination research and preparedness, with an additional $4 million requested for the Safe Buildings research program; and, More than $11.6 million in new resources to support preparedness in environmental laboratories. Other EPA programs of interest include: Pollution Prevention Grant Program - $6 million to help state programs assist businesses and industries in identifying environmental strategies for complying with federal and state environmental regulations. Regional Science and Technology - $…

The Administration's $16.47 billion FY 2005 budget request for NASA represents a 2.4 percent increase over the FY 2005 appropriation. Among highlights, the budget proposal maintains investments in next-generation Earth-observing satellites to support climate research efforts. It also continues support for Lunar, Mars, Earth Observations Systems and solar research, but cancels the Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter program, promising to fund Project Prometheus to test a nuclear reactor in 2008 and fly a demonstration mission within a decade. The budget request for the Science Mission Directorate is $5.48 billion, a modest decrease from its $5.53 billion in FY05. By contrast, Education programs are reduced by nearly 23 percent to $166.9 million. Funding for AeronauticsResearch is down 5.9 percent from FY05 to $852.3 million. For the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the request is $3.17 billion -- an 18 percent increase. Included in this figure is $919.2 million, a 27 percent increase, to support exploration systems research and technology under NASA's Advanced Space Technology and…

The Administration's FY 2006 budget request for the National Science Foundation (NSF) is $5.605 billion, a 2.4 percent increase above the FY05 appropriation level, but is still lower than the agency's FY04 appropriation of $5.652 billion. Demand for NSF funding has increased dramatically over the past few years, based on the funding rate for research grants dropping from 30 percent in the late 1990s to only 20 percent in 2005 (estimated). The budget brief states, "In FY06, NSF will increase the funding rate to the FY04 level of 21 percent, while striving to maintain recent gains in award size and duration." This may be difficult given funds available would barely keep pace with inflation and the agency would add 25 employees under the Administration's request. While NSF hopes to turn around the funding rate for proposals, the number of students able to participate in NSF educational programs is expected to drop by 6,140 students, a 27 percent drop from FY05, according to a Feb. 8 article on the Chronicle of Higher Education website. This is due in large part because most of the agency…

There are three federally established regional commissions and authorities that are dedicated to improving the economic opportunities within specific geographic regions. Two - the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Delta Regional Authority - are dependent on annual appropriations and are looking at reductions in FY 2006. The Tennessee Valley Authority, the oldest and largest of the three, generates its budget primarily through power generation revenues. TVA still requires the government to approve or set its annual spending level. Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) - $65.5 million ($528,000 decrease) to assist the 13-state, 410-county Appalachian Region in achieving socioeconomic parity with the nation through four goals, including increasing job opportunities and per capita income, strengthening the capacity of citizens to compete in the global economy, improving the region's competitiveness through development of key infrastructure, and reducing the region's isolation through the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS). ADHS receives an additional appropriation…