Budget
Defense-Oriented Plan Also Would Boost Commerce Spending
     The Commerce Department would be a significant winner under the fiscal 2006 budget released this week. The White House proposed a $2.5 trillion budget that includes a new "economic development challenge" but requests cuts to or the elimination of 150 separate federal programs. The budget predicts a deficit of $390 billion in fiscal 2006, and it calls for cutting discretionary domestic spending by about 1 percent. Commerce's budget would rise to $9.4 billion, with much of the increase going to the new economic development challenge that would streamline federal assistance and target funding to economically distressed communities and regions. President Bush also proposed a modest increase of $733 million in federal funding for research and development programs for fiscal 2006, to $132 billion.

Budget
Bush Wants To Boost Security Spending By 7 Percent
     President Bush asked Congress to boost funding for the Homeland Security Department to $34.2 billion in fiscal 2006 -- a 7 percent increase. The administration's spending priorities for security activities center on new technologies for border security, port security, cargo and passenger screening, and identifying weapons of mass destruction. The president requested $16 billion for the department's border and transportation security directorate; $6.9 billion for the Coast Guard; $3.3 billion for emergency preparedness and response; and $1.4 billion for science and technology. The budget for the information analysis and infrastructure protection directorate would be cut to $873 million from $894 million. Bush also proposed decreasing the minimum amount of federal funding each state receives to prepare, prevent and respond to terrorist attacks. The budget also calls for Congress to modernize the armed services over the next five years by increasing the Pentagon's budget in fiscal 2006 for advanced technologies.

Budget
Port Officials Ask Congress To Reverse President's Seaport Cuts
     Port officials urged Congress to reverse proposed budget cuts for seaport security in fiscal 2006. Under the plan proposed by President Bush, a grant program to help local ports prevent and protect against potential terrorist attacks would be eliminated and funding rolled into a new competitive grant program for all transit systems -- excluding aviation. "It would pit border-security needs against domestic security," Kurt Nagle, president and CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities, said at a news conference.

Budget
Technology Not Immune From Bush's Budget Ax
     The programs targeted for cuts in the fiscal 2006 federal budget include funding for manufacturers, technology research, community technology centers and education. Two programs at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) are slated to be substantially reduced or eliminated. NIST's overall funding request for fiscal 2006 is down $164 million, to $532 million from fiscal 2005. Bush has called for eliminating NIST's Advanced Technology Program, which provides seed money for high-risk research. The budget also calls for a $244 million cut in NIST's Manufacturing Extension Partnership program. Funding for the Commerce Department's Technology Administration also would be cut by $3 million, while the budget for assistive technology would be halved. And the president requested $269 million to improve math and science education -- $180 million less than appropriated in fiscal 2005.

Budget
PTO On Tap To Receive $1.7 Billion
     The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) would receive $1.7 billion under the fiscal 2006 budget. As with last year's request, President Bush proposed letting PTO keep all of the money that it collects from fees generated from patent and trademark applications filed at the office. Congressional appropriators last November approved a two-year hike of 15 percent to 25 percent in PTO fees, but the law contained no language guaranteeing that fees from PTO would not be diverted to fund the government's general operations. In other budget news, the Labor Department's one-stop career centers would see a drop in funding. A sweeping health information technology initiative would receive $125 million. And $24 million would go toward deploying more equipment to help nine additional airports operate more efficiently.

E-Government
Agencies Show Progress On President's Management Agenda
     Federal departments and agencies have made strides in implementing their e-government initiatives as part of the President's Management Agenda, according to the fiscal 2006 budget. But a majority of them still have at least one deficiency or have reached only the intermediate level of achievement. Agencies are ranked on a three-tiered, color-coded system, with red meaning failure, yellow meaning improvement and green signifying adequate implementation. As of Dec. 31, eight agencies had received green ratings for e-government, eight were in the red and 10 were at yellow. In terms of progress, however, nine agencies received yellow ratings, and the remaining 17 were labeled green. The Homeland Security Department was among the agencies still faltering with its e-government initiatives.

Digital Television
FCC Sides With Cable Industry In 'Multicasting' Debate
     The FCC sided with the cable industry on the crucial question of digital "multicasting," the last major item on its agenda to complete the transition to digital television. The vote was 4-1. Using digital technology, broadcasters can multicast four or more different television streams to consumers with digital sets and remain able to do so after Thursday's decision. But the agency held that cable systems do not have to carry all of those channels automatically. The decision sets up a major fight in Congress over the date by which broadcasters must vacate their analog channels. Also this week, the CEO of Nextel Communications, one of the five major wireless carriers, said the company has accepted the FCC plan to re-engineer a major frequency swap to end interference between cellular telephones and police and fire department radios.

Telecom
Senate Chairman Outlines Strategy For Telecom Reform
     The chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee said he will seek to rewrite telecommunications law with enough flexibility to accommodate technology changes and avoid regular congressional intervention. "It's time now for us to ... be able to take care of technology as it evolves and not have to rewrite every time we have a new generation, so to speak, of telecommunications capabilities," Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, told the Congressional Internet Caucus. His speech at the group's "State of the Net Conference" outlined his strategy for revamping the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Also on Capitol Hill this week, the Senate passed a compromise bill to overhaul the class-action legal system after rejecting several Democratic amendments. The vote was 72-26. And the House voted 261-161 for legislation that would make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses.

Crime
Chief Tech Officers Urge U.S. Leadership On Cyber Crime
     A group of chief technology officers (CTOs) for some of the world's largest technology companies on Thursday urged high-level government officials to create a commission on organized cyber crime. The CTOs provided few details on what the cyber-crime commission might do and how it might operate but said that it should be an interagency effort that focuses on curtailing activities such as identity theft. They also called on the Bush administration and Congress to ratify the Council of Europe's cyber-crime convention. "We think this would focus attention [on these issues] like a laser," said Robert Holleyman, president and CEO of the Business Software Alliance, which coordinated the CTO lobbying swing through Washington.