The Senate appropriations committee advanced a set of FY 2024 funding bills this morning that largely continue level funding from FY 2023.

A group of technology-related organizations, including SSTI, is asking Congress to support the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs program with additional, substantial appropriations in FY 2024.

The SSTI Innovation Advocacy Council continues to work toward additional appropriations for Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs, Build to Scale, and the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership. This week, the Council facilitated meetings with SSTI members and congressional offices to discuss funding priorities. SSTI also released a letter signed by 70 national and regional entities that support fully-funding the Tech Hubs program.

More than five months into fiscal year 2024, Congress has approved an agreement covering six of the twelve annual appropriations bills. Many tech-based economic development (TBED) programs received funding equal to the FY 2023 base appropriation—a strong sign of support for a year in which Congress agreed to return to FY 2022 overall spending levels and many programs across the federal government, therefore, saw cuts.

Editor’s note (April 4, 2024): This article has been updated to reflect relevant programs included in the second of two FY 2024 omnibus appropriations bills.

The White House released the President’s Budget for FY 2024 today, and the administration is making a strong statement of support for science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

As of this writing, Congress has yet to agree to fund the federal government beyond this Saturday, Sept. 30.