Highlights
- The FY 2004 omnibus bill provides $1.3 billion for R&D in the Department
of Commerce, an increase of $11 million or 0.9 percent (see Table).
NIST R&D declines 3.9 percent, but NOAA R&D rises 5.8 percent.
- In sharp contrast to Administration and House proposals to eliminate or
phase out the Advanced Technology Program, the omnibus bill keeps its
R&D funding at last year’s level. However,
Congress went along with the Administration’s proposal to phase
out federal support for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).
Nearly
four months after the start of FY 2004, Congress finalized the FY 2004
budget for the Department of Commerce, when the Senate gave final approval
on January 22 to an omnibus appropriations bill (HR 2673) for Commerce
and several other R&D funding agencies. The House approved the omnibus
bill on December 8, and President Bush is expected to sign the bill
into law by the end of January. The FY 2004 omnibus bill provides $1.3 billion
for Commerce R&D programs in FY 2004, a slight $11 million or 0.9
percent boost over FY 2003 (see Table).
The final bill keeps the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) funded at
last year’s level.
Commerce’s
two major R&D agencies—the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)—have
different fates for their R&D portfolios in the omnibus. NOAA R&D
rises by 5.8 percent or $40 million to $724 million while NIST R&D
falls by 3.9 percent to $506 million (see Table; all figures have been
adjusted to reflect two across-the-board cuts to Commerce programs contained
in the omnibus bill).
Commerce R&D in Final FY 2004 Appropriations
The final FY 2004 Commerce budget sides with the Senate in endorsing NIST’s
Advanced Technology Program (ATP) in the face of House and Administration
proposals to kill the program. Although the House has voted repeatedly
to eliminate the program in previous budget bills, the program has been
saved every year by the Senate. In February 2003, the Bush Administration
proposed to eliminate ATP in FY 2004, but requested a total of $27 million
to fund already-awarded grants and also to pay close-out costs for the
program. The House would have eliminated the program immediately and
provided no funds. The Administration and House proposed to eliminate
ATP based on its belief that other federally funded research programs
are more effective, that ATP funds have gone to major corporations that
do not need subsidies, and that ATP-funded projects are often similar
to those initiated by firms not receiving ATP support. The final $178
million total appropriation for ATP is 0.9 percent less than last year’s
funding level after adjusting for across-the-board cuts.
Total NIST R&D
falls by 3.9 percent in FY 2004 to $506 million, because of cuts to
all the major NIST programs. The main NIST R&D activity—Scientific
and Technical Research and Services (STRS), which funds intramural research
at the NIST laboratories—falls 5.7 percent for an R&D total of $291
million. Another NIST R&D program, Construction of Research
Facilities, falls $2 million from FY 2003 to $64 million, of which $21
million goes to congressionally designated research projects. The FY
2003 budget contained $28 million in projects, so the remaining appropriation
still allows for an increase in construction projects to repair and
maintain NIST facilities in Maryland
and Colorado. The non-R&D
Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP),
a program to operate a nationwide network of extension centers to disseminate
better manufacturing technologies to small- and medium-sized manufacturers,
receives only $39 million, down nearly two-thirds from the $106 million
FY 2003 funding level. The FY
2004 appropriation confirms Administration plans to phase out the federal
contribution to this federal-state partnership. The total NIST budget
falls 12.2 percent to $621 million.
Congress boosts NOAA R&D by 5.8 percent, for a total of $724 million,
in contrast to cuts proposed by the Bush Administration. The budget
request would have reduced NOAA R&D by 1.4 percent. Though the FY
2004 request would have kept most NOAA R&D programs level-funded
or declining slightly, the congressional allocations should be sufficient
to provide most R&D programs with modest increases. In Oceanic and
Atmospheric Research, the R&D portfolio rises 6.1 percent to $361
million. NOAA’s climate research program increases from $166 million
to $172 million, but weather and air quality research fall slightly
from $57 million to $56 million and the National Undersea Research Program
(NURP) stays level at $16 million. Congress keeps funding for the National
Sea Grant College Program at last year’s funding level of $62 million.
Begun in 1966, Sea Grant involves more than 200 universities in its
goal of gaining a better understanding of marine life and marine resources
through education, outreach, and technology transfer. Sea Grant provides
grants to these universities.
Impacts of the Commerce R&D Portfolio
The modest
cut to Commerce's R&D portfolio in FY 2004 keeps Commerce R&D
at essentially the same level as in three of the past four years, as
shown in Figure 1. Although Commerce R&D grew substantially in the
first half of the 1990s as NIST's technology programs and NOAA's environmental
programs gained in priority, Commerce R&D funding has stagnated
since FY 1995, with periodic dips due to the up-and-down fortunes of
the ATP and changing construction needs at the NIST laboratories.
Figure
1. (click on the image to view or download
a color, full-page PDF version of the chart)
Figure
2. (click on the image to view or download
a color, full-page PDF version of the chart)
The differing missions of NOAA
and NIST mean that Commerce has a diverse research portfolio in terms of
science and engineering disciplines, as shown in Figure 2. NOAA funds
environmental sciences and life sciences research related to its oceanic and
atmospheric missions, while NIST funds engineering, physical sciences,
mathematics, and computer sciences research.
Figure
3. (click on the image to view or download
a color, full-page PDF version of the chart)
NOAA’s
research has increased at a more predictable rate than NIST research, resulting
in mostly steady increases in Commerce support for research in the
environmental sciences and the life sciences (see Figure 3),
although life sciences research has leveled off in recent years. The FY 2004
boost to NOAA R&D should allow Commerce support for the environmental
sciences to keep growing. NIST research, however, has been subject to the ups
and downs of key NIST programs. NIST support for the engineering sciences and
the computer sciences has lagged since FY 1995, and the FY 2004 budget cuts
will most likely result in continuing cuts in NIST support. NIST support for
the physical sciences, however, has mostly remained steady and has shown upward
trends in most years. Although Commerce is not the leading funding source for
any of the science and engineering disciplines, the department does provide key
support for specific areas in oceanography, atmospheric sciences, standards
research, measurement technologies, and physics most closely related to NIST
and NOAA missions.
The vast majority
of Commerce R&D is performed internally in NOAA and NIST laboratories.
79 percent of Commerce R&D is performed in federal labs, both NOAA’s
network of laboratories throughout the country and NIST’s
large facilities in Maryland
and Colorado. Only 8 percent
of the Commerce R&D portfolio goes to universities, while 11 percent
goes to industrial firms.
Next Steps
The House approved
the omnibus bill on December 8, and the Senate gave final approval on
January 22. Until a final budget is signed, Commerce is operating at
last year's funding levels under a continuing resolution extending through
January 31; President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law by
then.
(This analysis is one of a series
of AAAS R&D Funding Updates on the FY 2004 appropriations process.
This analysis includes information on R&D in final appropriations
for the Department of Commerce. The complete series of AAAS R&D
Funding Updates, including continually updated analyses of R&D in
FY 2004 appropriations, is available on the AAAS R&D Web Site
(http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd) in the “FY
2004 R&D” or the “What’s New” sections.)
- December 10, 2003 (revised January 23)
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607; -6600
www.aaas.org/spp/rd
