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A Closer Look At Bush's Tech Initiatives
by William New
President Bush's $2 trillion fiscal 2002 budget proposal has some initiatives to like and some not to like for the technology-minded. The budget includes money for programs ranging from e-government and cyber security to exports and tax credits for technology research.
The administration's plan includes funding for an effort to move government online, including $20 million in fiscal 2002 as the first installment of a three-year, $100 million fund under the General Services Administration (GSA) budget for interagency e-government efforts. It also would provide $3 million for the FirstGov.gov federal Internet portal.
Cyber-security money is spread throughout the budget, some of it hard to identify at this point. GSA has requested $6.5 million for the Federal Computer Incident Response Center (FedCIRC), the government's central facility for coordination and analysis for computer security issues affecting civilian and federal agencies.
Tax incentives also are part of the Bush budget. It includes funds for the research and development tax credit -- an estimated at $1.7 billion in fiscal 2002 and $9.9 billion between fiscal 2002 and fiscal 2006. The current R&D tax credit expires June 30, 2004, but bills have been introduced to make it permanent. Bush's inclusion of the issue in his budget is seen as giving a boost to congressional efforts.
The administration also would extend a tax break for employer-provided educational assistance until the end of fiscal 2002. Under that initiative, as much as $5,250 per year in educational aid would not be counted against an employee's gross income and wages.
The Good News At Commerce ...
The Commerce Department embodies several offices that deal with high-tech issues. Funding for the department itself would decline in fiscal 2002, from $5.1 million to $4.8 million, but some technology-related agencies under its jurisdiction would receive more money.
The Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) would receive a slight increase in funds for programs related to promoting technology exports. BXA would get $32 million for export administration, which ensures that export activity is consistent with national security and foreign policy requirements, an increase of $1 million.
BXA's export enforcement program, which detects and prevents the illegal distribution of controlled U.S. goods and technical data, would get $1 million more than last year, or $26 million. BXA is seeking to hire additional licensing experts because it has become more technical.
Bush's budget would keep the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office (CIAO) alive with $5 million in fiscal 2002, the same level the office received in fiscal 2001. CIAO currently is set to be discontinued at year's end.
Technology administration under Commerce, meanwhile, would be funded at $496 million under Bush's budget. The money would go to the Office of the Undersecretary for Technology, the Office of Technology Policy, the National Technical Information Service and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Of that, $487.5 million would go to NIST, with $347 million applied to scientific and technical research and services.
... And The Bad News
The NIST budget includes a proposed $13 million for previously awarded contracts under the Advanced Technology Program (ATP). But Bush has called for suspending new ATP awards in fiscal 2002 pending an evaluation of the program's value.
Bush also calls for a cut in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) budget, from $100.2 million to $73 million. NTIA has programs on telecommunications policy and research, and spectrum management.
The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) would receive a 10 percent increase to $1.14 billion. But sources in the intellectual property and technology communities point to a plan to divert $207 million in PTO revenues to other government programs. They argue that the longstanding practice, which they had hoped Bush would discontinue, contributes to lower quality and lengthier periods for patent examination and the adoption of new information by the PTO.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) would receive $329.6 million in 2002, compared to last year's $333.7 million, a 1.2 percent decline. The emphasis next year is on compliance. ITA's offices of Market Access and Compliance and Import Administration, however, would receive slight increases in their budgets.
Also at Commerce, the Bureau of Economic Analysis again would receive $3 million for the STAT-USA Web database. Goals this year include increasing the customer base from 80,000 to 90,000, increasing information content and improving the quality of Internet customers' experience.
The Budget Picture At Key Agencies
The FCC has requested $248.5 million in fiscal 2002, representing a 1 percent increase. All but $30 million of the funding would have to come from regulatory fees. The FCC budget calls for $78.8 million for enforcement, up from $72.8 million.
The FTC has requested $73 million, an increase over the $69 million it is estimated to receive in fiscal 2001, according to the Bush budget appendix. The FTC will continue its focus on consumer protection and competition.
Under Bush's budget, the National Science Foundation (NSF) would receive a slight increase of 1.3 percent, to $4.47 billion. Next year's focus would be on education, training and efficiency, with an 11 percent increase for education and human resources. The budget would cut funding for major research equipment by 20.6 percent, to $96 million, and funding for research and related activities would drop slightly, to $3.327 billion. But the budget for information technology research would rise 5 percent to $273 million.
NSF is projected to pick up $144 million from H-1B visa fees designated for highly skilled foreign workers, and that money would be used for educational programs. The NSF also would get $200 million for math and science partnerships, $26 million to put graduate students in K-12 classrooms, and $126 million for the Learning in the 21st Century program. Funding for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program would drop slightly, to $470.4 million.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), meanwhile, would receive a 2 percent increase, to $30.1 million. The funding would include money to complete the hiring of 25 new enforcement and negotiating specialists to bring the USTR staff to 203.
Cyber Crime, Educational Technology And More
Other tech-related initiatives appear in the budgets of various Cabinet departments.
The proposed Justice Department budget, for instance, contains $370 million for efforts against cyber crime, improving technology and bolstering national security against cyber attacks. The budget calls for doubling the grants to state and local law enforcement efforts to $100 million.
Justice's budget also would provide $74 million for an FBI program for faster communications networks, $41 million for a new laboratory in Quantico, Va., $35 million to process a backlog of DNA samples from state-convicted offenders and $35 million to update criminal records.
The Education Department, whose overall budget would constitute the largest percentage increase in fiscal 2002, calls for an increase in spending on math and science education to $200 million. Bush's plan also proposes the consolidation of nine technology programs into one $817 million fund. But it backs off an earlier commitment to consolidate the e-rate program, currently administered by the FCC, into the technology programs administered by the Education Department. The e-rate provides funds for connecting schools to the Internet.
The Education Department's budget also contains proposed funding for disabilities initiatives, including $110 million for research and development of disability technologies, $61 million to improve access to the latest assistive technologies and $20 million for loans to individuals to buy computers in order to telecommute.
Finally, the Bush administration proposes $80 million in matching grants through the Housing and Urban Development Department to support community technology centers in high-poverty areas.
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