SSTI Digest

The Administration’s FY 2008 budget request for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) totals $46.4 billion in funding, an increase of 8 percent over the FY 2007 request. The key priority of this year’s request is a $13 billion initiative for border security and immigration enforcement.    The FY08 request provides $799 million for the Science and Technology Directorate, which oversees the department’s research, development, testing and evaluation activities. Last year, the directorate saw its funding request drop by 33 percent, as the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office spun off as a separate DHS office. Even after the reorganization, the FY08 budget cuts an additional $200 million from the directorate’s FY07 request of $1.002 billion.  

The Administration's FY 2008 budget request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is $36.15 billion (31 percent decrease from the FY06 appropriation level – mostly due to a FY06 supplemental one-time funding for disaster relief). The department’s major priority for FY08 will be increasing home ownership.   The office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) would receive $65 million this year. It would be split between $40 million for the Research and Technology studies and testing and $25 million for University Programs, which provide funds to minority-specialized colleges and universities to form partnerships for revitalization activities with their surrounding communities.   Community Development Block Grants

The Administration’s FY 2008 request of $10.705 billion for the Department of the Interior (DOI) represents a decrease of 2.3 percent from the FY06 appropriation. The FY08 figure is 1.7 percent above the president’s FY07 request.   In preparation for the National Parks Centennial, the park service will receive the largest budget in its history with $2.1 billion. Indian Affairs, wildfire preparedness, landowner stewardship, rural water, and National Park Service construction bear the majority of the department’s cuts.   Research activities within DOI are distributed among many offices and are relatively modest in spending, compared to other agencies discussed in this week’s Digest. Highlights include:  

The Administration's FY 2008 request for the Department of Labor (DOL) is $10.6 billion in discretionary budget authority, a decrease of $900 million (7.83 percent less) compared to the FY06 appropriation level of $11.5 billion. Compared to the FY06 budget overview, the agency’s payroll would increase by 679 full-time equivalent positions, however.

The Administration's FY 2008 budget request for the Department of Transportation (DOT) is $67 billion. This funding would be distributed across the department's five key strategic objectives - improving safety (30.4%), reducing congestion (54.6%), increasing global transportation connectivity (2.1%), protecting the environment (9.8%) and supporting national security (1.4%) - with the balance of 1.7 percent going toward organizational excellence.   As with most other federal agencies, with notable exceptions such as the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, research and TBED programs constitute a very small percentage of DOT’s annual budget. For example, more than one-third of the DOT budget request is dedicated to highway and bridge construction and maintenance.   Among budget highlights for the scientific and engineering community is a $175 million request for a 21st century satellite navigation system to replace older air traffic control equipment.

There are only four programs in the Treasury Department that SSTI monitors for the tech-based economic development community. Most of them are slated for termination or phase-out in FY 2008. Treasury requests $24.4 million for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI) Program (21 percent decrease from FY06 appropriation) and $4.12 million to administer the New Market Tax Credits Program (NMTC), a 3.2 percent decrease. The NMTC Program provides credit against federal income taxes to taxpayers making qualified equity investments in designated Community Development Entities in order to attract private capital investments in low-income communities.

For the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Administration has requested $7.2 billion for FY 2008, a 1 percent decrease from the FY07 request. Under the new budget, Science and Technology activities would receive $754.5 million (4.3 percent decrease). Within S&T, research activities would decrease 2.4 percent to $478.5 million. A few science and technology programs are expected to receive small budget increases this year, however, including Clean Air Research (3 percent increase), Environmental Enforcement Forensics (15 percent increase), and Climate Protection (4 percent increase).   Science and Technology programs include: Air Toxics and Quality - $93 million Climate Protection Program - $13 million

The Administration’s FY 2008 budget request for NASA totals $17.309 billion (3.9 percent increase from the FY06 appropriation) and is distributed across six directorates and offices. Science - $5.516 billion (5.18 percent increase from FY06 appropriation) to conduct scientific exploration that is enabled by access to space or near-space in pursuit of a science plan with four broad goals or themes: earth science; planetary science; heliophysics; and, astrophysics. Exploration Systems - $3.924 billion (28.6 percent increase) to pursue the president’s goal of returning humans to the moon, landing on Mars and venturing beyond. Aeronautics Research - $554 million (38 percent reduction) to expand the boundaries of aeronautical knowledge.

The Administration’s FY 2008 National Science Foundation (NSF) budget request of $6.43 billion represents an increase of nearly $409 million (6.8 percent) above the FY07 request. The large increase is distributed across many research and related activities: Mathematical and Physical Sciences  - $103 million increase Engineering - $55 million Geosciences - $47 million Computer and Information Science and Engineering - $47 million Education and Human Resources Directorate (increases to several programs) - $34 million Integrative Activities - $32 million Office of Polar Programs - $27 million

Four federally established regional commissions and authorities dedicated to improving the economic opportunities within specific geographic regions are included in the Administration’s FY 2008 budget request. No funding is requested for the Northern Great Plains Regional Authority, which was created in the 2002 Farm Bill. The Appalachian Regional Commission, Delta Regional Authority and Denali Commission are dependent on annual appropriations. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the oldest and largest of the five authorities, generates its budget primarily through power generation revenues. TVA still requires the government to approve or set its annual spending level.

The Administration's proposal sets overall spending for FY 2008 at $814 million for the Small Business Administration (SBA), including $464 million in new budget authority, $329 million in carryover funds for disaster loans, and $21 million in reimbursable revenues. Funding levels for selected technical assistance programs include: Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) - $87 million to provide 50 percent or less of the operating funds of the 63 Lead SBDCs and their satellite organizations that make up a network of more than 1,100 service locations around the country. SBDCs provide management assistance to current and prospective small business owners.

Less than one week before President Bush releases the Administration's budget request for fiscal year 2008, congressional Democratic leadership released its solution to the FY 2007 fiasco. The need to remain within spending caps approved last year and the need to focus on FY08 spending meant the FY07 fix would be simple, but slightly painful for agencies used to above-inflation-rate increases each year. Sixty programs reportedly will see cuts from their FY06 funding levels.                 As expected, earmarks have been stripped from the Joint Resolution covering $463 billion in spending, which covers most of the federal government as 11 FY07 funding bills remained unfinished when Republicans handed over control of both chambers of Congress. Earmarks had become a common funding mechanism for many university research programs and economic development related activities, so the full impact of the move to restore some competitiveness to funding decisions remains to be seen on the TBED community.