The Science Mission Directorate within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would receive $5.7 billion in the president’s proposed FY 2018 budget, a $53.1 million (0.9 percent) decrease from FY 2017.

The president’s FY 2018 budget proposal includes requests for four regional commissions with the funds appropriated only for the purposes of closure of these commissions, including: $31 million for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC); $7.3 million for the Denali Commission; $2.5 million for the Delta Regional Authority (DRA); and, $850,000 for the Northern Border Regional Commission.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) would receive $27.7 billion in FY 2018 discretionary funding under the president’s budget request, a $1.2 billion (4.2 percent) decrease.

The administration’s FY 2018 budget request for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is $44.1 billion, a $5.2 billion (10.5 percent) decrease in non-disaster, net discretionary funding, excluding disaster-relief funding. The proposed budget would include $975.8 million in new funding for “high-priority tactical infrastructure and border security technology improvements to provide a layered defense at the border and effective surveillance technology and equipment.”

The president’s FY 2018 budget request would provide $28.0 billion in total funding for the Department of Energy, a $2.7 billion (8.9 percent) decrease from the FY 2017 omnibus. Notably, the proposed budget would eliminate the ARPA-E program, which received $306 million as part of the FY 2017 omnibus. The proposed budget “refocuses the Department’s energy and science programs on early-stage research and development (R&D) at the national laboratories to advance American primacy in scientific and energy research in an efficient and cost effective manner,” according to the DOE.

The FY 2018 budget request for the Department of Defense (DOD) would provide $574.5 billion in discretionary base funding. Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) would receive a total $83.3 billion – an $11 billion (15.2 percent) increase. This includes $13.2 billion for Science and Technology, a $0.6 billion (4.8 percent) increase, which is comprised of Basic Research, Applied Research and Advanced Technology Development. DoD Basic Research would receive $2.2 billion ($0.2 billion; 4.8 percent increase), Applied Research $5 billion ($0.2 billion; 3.3 percent increase), and Advanced Technology Development $6 billion ($0.4 billion; 6.4 percent increase).

The administration’s FY 2018 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is $69.8 billion in discretionary spending, reflecting a $14.6 billion (17.3 percent) decrease from FY 2017 estimated funding levels. Discretionary spending accounts for approximately 7 percent of the total proposed HHS budget. Mandatory spending for programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program account for the balance. Total FY 2018 budget authority for HHS would be $1.1 trillion (0.03 percent increase over FY 2017 estimates).

The president’s FY 2018 budget proposal for the National Science Foundation (NSF) would provide $6.7 billion – a $840.9 million (11.2 percent) decrease in funding.

The FY 2018 budget proposal would terminate much of Treasury’s support for capital access. The Administration would not provide additional funding for the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), allowing the program office to close at the end of FY 2017. The Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFI) Fund would experience dramatic changes under the budget.

The Department of Commerce houses a variety of science- and innovation-relevant agencies, most of which receive substantial cuts in the administration’s FY 2018 budget. Collectively, Commerce would lose many of its initiatives targeted to entrepreneurs, most notably the Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).

The administration’s budget proposal would dramatically reduce funding throughout the EPA. The Office of Science and Technology, which houses the Agency’s R&D and tech transfer initiatives, would be reduced by $263 million to $450.8 million (36.8 percent decrease).

One complication for the FY 2018 budget process is that discretionary spending is scheduled to decrease by billions from FY 2017 levels. The reason for this decrease is Congress’ solution to previous spending impasses: the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA). This act set limits on how much can be spent on defense and non-defense discretionary spending for future years. While Congress frequently authorizes additional spending beyond the caps the act sets, if they fail to alter the FY 2018 spending level, it would reduce the discretionary budget by $110 billion.

The president’s FY 2018 request for discretionary budget authority to fund programs and operating expenses is $21.0 billion, approximately $4.8 billion below the 2017 estimate in discretionary program funding for the Department of Agriculture (USDA). This includes funding for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Rural Development, Forest Service, food safety, research, and conservation activities. However, the budget does not include the USDA reorganization plan that was announced by Secretary Sonny Perdue on May 11, which proposes a change in status for Rural Development.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) within the Department of Labor would receive $6.9 billion under the president’s proposed FY 2018 budget, a $3.1 billion (31.1 percent) decrease from the FY 2017 approved budget.

The president’s budget for FY 2018 would eliminate funding for numerous innovation programs, slash spending on R&D and technology transfer and limit education and training opportunities. The full budget proposal may well be “dead on arrival” in Congress, but this is not the same as Congress rejecting each budget proposal.

In Part 1 of this two-part series, SSTI examined NIH’s proposed changes that will place limits on individual researcher funding. In Part 2, impacts of the limits are explored.

In the May 18th Digest, proposed changes to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants funding process were highlighted. The changes – tilted the Grant Support Index (GSI) – would impose a general limit of three major grants per researcher. Since the article was published, the NIH’s director, Francis Collins, announced during a U.S. House appropriations subcommittee that NIH intends to proceed with the GSI proposal. In this second part of the series,SSTI reveals areas within the field of tech-based economic development that could see the benefits and/or the negative unintended consequences of these changes.

The Kauffman Foundation’s recently updated Index of Startup Activity finds that startup activity has increased for the third consecutive year and has now reached pre-recession levels. Nationally, the index, which measures business startup activity from 1997 to 2016, increased moderately after two years of sharp growth.

In an effort to incentivize large-scale industry partnerships, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada will invest up to C$950 million (US$708.5 million) between 2017 and 2022 in superclusters as part of the nation’s Innovation and Skills Plan.

If it takes a village to raise a child, it may take an entire educational support system as well as public policy reform and funding to get that child into a skilled technical job. A two-year study coordinated by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found that the disjointed method of workforce development approaches in the U.S. may be hampering the economic competitiveness of the country.

While U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has announced that the Rural Development agency would be elevated under a reorganization plan because it would be placed under the direct oversight of the Secretary, not everyone is viewing the consolidation as an elevation.

More than 46 million Americans, nearly 15 percent of the population, lived in poverty in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates. Compared against census data for 1999, more than 2,500 of the country’s 3,100-plus counties saw their rate increase. In 2015, 753 counties had a poverty rate of at least 20 percent — and 415 of these counties have been above this threshold in census data dating back to at least 1989.

Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions will greatly shape patent holder rights by limiting where patent lawsuits can be filed and restricting patent rights after a product is sold. These rulings are considered by many analysts to be beneficial for startups, small businesses, and consumers. The biggest losers will be patent trolls – patent owners who collect IP rights only to seek infringement damages – who likely will face more pushback against their patent lawsuits and may see fewer settlements.

By its very nature, economic dynamism can unsettle local economies. As businesses dissolve, jobs are lost. Technological shifts can drastically alter – or even replace – companies, occupations and entire industries. As these ripple effects move throughout communities, it is easy to focus on the negative impacts, but this loses sight of the importance dynamism has on national economic health.

While much recent attention has been given to the Cancer Moonshot research effort, the National Cancer Institute established a network of publicly funded cancer cooperative research groups more than 50 years ago to evaluate new treatments for efficacy and safety. JAMA Oncology details an investigation that examined the extent to which positive NCI-sponsored cancer treatment trials have benefitted patients with cancer. The study estimated that 3.34 million life-years were gained in the population of U.S. patients with cancer through 2015, at a cost of $125 per life-year gained.

The Blackstone Charitable Foundation has announced its first cohort of eight organizations in the Chicago-area entrepreneurship challenge. Named the BX Challenge, up to $3 million in grant funding will be provided over three years to innovative organizations that effectively recruit and support diverse entrepreneurs and scale startups in the Chicago area. The selected programs will serve underserved populations, including communities of color, women, veterans, and immigrants.