Commerce Funding Bill Passes Senate Floor

While various proposals to dismantle the Department of Commerce make their way through Congress, the FY 1996 funding bill for the Department, H.R. 2076, has now passed the Senate and is ready to go to a House-Senate conference. The appropriations bill was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on September 12, and the full Senate on September 29. During discussion on the Senate floor, funds were added to increase the total NIST budget. Below are highlights of the Appropriations Committee’s actions and changes made on the floor.

An amendment approved on the Senate floor, sponsored by Mark Hatfield (R-OR), raised the total appropriation for NIST by $28.0 million above what the Senate Appropriations Committee had recommended. The committee recommendation totaled $323.3 million; Hatfield’s amendment increased the NIST budget to $351.3 million. This amount is $671.7 million (or 65.7 percent) less than the Administration’s budget request, $349.2 million (or 49.9 percent) less than fiscal year 1995 funding, and $52.8 million less than the House version of the bill.

Three separate accounts are funded within NIST: Scientific and Technical Research and Services, which encompasses NIST’s intramural laboratory research, measurement and standards work; Industrial Technology Services, which comprises the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP); and Construction of Facilities.

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND SERVICES
1995 Budget $247,486,000
1996 Request 310,679,000
House Appropriation 263,000,000
Senate Appropriation 222,737,000

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s report (S. Report 104-139) notes that NIST has unspent “end-of-year carryover balances” and “directs that these carryover balances should be utilized to support these core NIST programs so that total budgetary resources provided for this account will exceed fiscal year 1994 levels, ensure continued funding of NIST’s basic research programs, and provide continued support of the reimbursable program where NIST performs technical work for other Federal agencies, State and local governments, and the private sector.”

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
1995 Budget $418,373,000
1996 Request 642,458,000
House Appropriation 81,100,000
Senate Appropriation 101,600,000

Again, the committee report directs NIST to use unspent end-of-year balances to supplement new fiscal 1996 funding. It also chastises NIST for violating language in the House Appropriations Committee report by granting new ATP awards, warning that “In doing so, NIST has jeopardized funding for the continuation of ATP grants awarded in fiscal year 1994 and prior years.”

Hatfield’s successful floor amendment specified that an additional $25.0 million in new funding go to NIST’s Industrial Technology Services. A later amendment by Phil Gramm (R-TX), clarified that the $25.0 million was to be used only for the MEP program. There was no floor debate over the merits of ATP and MEP, but Ernest Hollings (D-SC) discussed the effects of the Hatfield and Gramm amendments. He noted that of the $25.0 million, "$22 million is provided to support new centers that are now close to be[ing] chosen, under an ongoing centers competition. The amendment restores funding that had been provided in the fiscal year 1995 Appropriations Act for new centers but which the present bill would shift to other purposes. This amendment therefore overrides the committee report language which says that no funds can be used to open a new center during the coming year.”

The remaining $3.0 million, Hollings added, was for “support services for the existing 42 manufacturing extension centers...including the eligible centers originally supported by the Defense Department’s Technology Reinvestment Project.” In summary, he said, “the amount of new appropriations for the MEP program now totals $76.3 million,” instead of the $51.3 million recommended by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Administration’s FY 1996 request for MEP is $146.6 million; current-year funding is $90.6 million; and the House version of this bill provides $81.1 million.

Under the Senate version of H.R. 2076, the ATP would receive $25.3 million in new appropriations, in addition to some carryover funding. The Administration’s FY 1996 request is $490.9 million; current-year funding is $430.4 million; and the House version of this bill provides no new funding for ATP.

CONSTRUCTION OF RESEARCH FACILITIES
1995 Budget $34,639,000
1996 Request 69,913,000
House Appropriation 60,000,000
Senate Appropriation 27,000,000

The committee report provided $24.0 million for “maintenance and necessary fire and safety upgrades for existing facilities,” and no funds “for new construction for this unauthorized program in fiscal year 1996.” However, Hatfield’s amendment provided an additional $3.0 million for the construction account, bringing the Senate total to $27.0 million.