APPROPRIATIONS (Actual budget for FY 2001)

White House:

White House Signing: President Clinton signed P.L. 106-553, the final FY 2001 appropriations for the Commerce Department, on 12/21/2000. There were no changes in the TA/NIST funding numbers from the conference bill H.R. 4942. The bill does not reflect a 0.22 percent government-wide rescission agreed to as part of the consolidated spending package. The amount of the rescission for TA is $18,000 and for NIST, $1.3 million.

Conference:

H. R. 4942 passed the House by a vote of 292-60 on 12/15/2000 and the Senate on the same day by unanimous consent. The bill was immediately sent to President Clinton for signing.

The TA headquarters mark is $8.1 million, $ 0.2 million more than the FY 2000 appropriation of $7.9 million and $0.6 million below the President's FY 2001 request of $8.7 million.

The NIST marks are STRS, $312.6 million ($307.4 million for the NL and $5.2 million for the BNQP); ITS, $250.8 million ($145.7 million for ATP and $105.1 million for MEP); and CRF, $34.9 million.

The FY 2001 marks are higher for the STRS and ITS than the FY 2000 appropriations levels. Of the $131.3 million in technology initiatives, only $9 million is funded ($2 million for nanotechnology research, $4 million for critical information infrastructure protection R&D and $3 million for a critical information infrastructure protection expert review team). A $5 million mark for "a new program of infrastructure protection research grants" was added to the STRS in lieu of the $50 million requested for the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection under the ITS. The STRS also includes $2 million for wind research at Texas Tech University and $1.2 million for building and fire research that were not in the President's request.

The ATP mark assumes carryover funding of $45 million to yield a total of $190.7 million available for FY 2001. New awards would be limited to $60.7 million.

The CRF mark includes four additional increases for construction projects totaling $14 million not requested by the President: $4 million for the Institute at Saint Anselm College, Manchester, N.H.; $4 million for the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C.; $3 million for the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.; and $3 million for the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (no relation to the IIIP proposed by the President's FY 2001 budget request) at the Institute for Security Technology Studies at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H

The total NIST appropriation mark is $598.3 million, compared to the FY 2000 appropriation available of $635.8 million and the President's FY 2001 request of $713 million.

The NTIS was not mentioned in the bill.

House:

FLOOR - The House passed H.R. 4690, the "FY 2001 Appropriations Bill for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State," on 6/26/2000 by a vote of 214-195. The bill passed with no changes in the TA marks from the committee-passed version.

COMMITTEE -- The House Appropriations Committee on 6/19/2000 passed H.R. 4690 with no changes to the TA portion of the bill as marked up on 6/6/2000 by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary.

The TA headquarters mark is $7.9 million, equal to the FY 2000 appropriation of $7.9 million and $0.8 million below the President's FY 2001 request of $8.7 million.

The NIST marks are STRS, $292.0 million ($286.1 million for the NL and $5.9 million for the BNQP); ITS, $104.8 million (no funding for ATP and $104.8 million for MEP); and CRF, $26.0 million. The marks hold the STRS and MEP portion of the ITS at approximately the FY 2000 appropriations levels. None of the proposed $137.3 million for technology initiatives (including the NIST portion of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, the establishment of the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection and an MEP outreach program for helping small manufacturers make the transition to electronic commerce) were funded. The ATP is marked for elimination. The total NIST appropriation mark is $422.8 million, compared to the FY 2000 appropriation available of $635.8 million and the President's FY 2001 request of $713 million.

The NTIS was not mentioned in the bill.

Senate:

FLOOR -- No floor vote on H.R. 4690 was taken. The bill moved directly to conference.

COMMITTEE -- The Senate Appropriations Committee on 7/18/2000 passed H.R. 4690 by a vote of 28-0 . The traditional first markup by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary was bypassed.

The TA headquarters mark is $8.2 million, $0.3 million above the FY 2000 appropriation of $7.9 million and $0.5 million below the President's FY 2001 request of $8.7 million.

The NIST marks are STRS, $305.0 million ($299.8 million for the NL and $5.2 million for the BNQP); ITS, $262.7 million ($153.6 funding for ATP and $109.1 million for MEP); and CRF, $28.9 million. The STRS mark includes partial funding for three initiatives in the President's FY 2001 request: $1 million for the effort to develop standards for electronic data exchange; $2 million for the development of new methods to protect the nation's critical information infrastructure; and $2 million for the development of advanced nanotechnologies. An additional $2 million for wind research at Texas Tech University was not in the President's request.

The ATP mark assumes carryover funding of $45 million to yield a total of $198.6 million available for FY 2001. New awards would be limited to $65 million. There is no funding marked for the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection under the ITS.

The CRF mark includes two additional $4 million increases not requested by the President: one for a grant and the other for a cooperative program.

The total NIST appropriation mark is $596.6 million, compared to the FY 2000 appropriation available of $635.8 million and the President's FY 2001 request of $713 million.

The NTIS was not mentioned in the bill.

BUDGET AUTHORIZATIONS (Sets caps for appropriations committees)

House:

COMMITTEE: H.R. 1744 , the "National Institute of Standards and Technology Authorization Act of 1999," was introduced on 5/10/99 and proposed the following authorizations:

Senate:

COMMITTEE: S.1407, the "Technology Administration Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2001 and 2002," was passed on 4/13/2000 by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation as an amended bill that replaces an earlier version. The original bill was introduced on 7/21/99 and included FY 2000 authorizations. The current bill proposes the following authorizations:

Continuing Resolutions

There were 21 continuing resolutions passed by Congress to provide stopgap funding for DoC (at FY 2000 levels) until the appropriations bill was finished. The first four covered the periods 10/1- 10/6/2000, 10/7-10/14/2000, 10/15-10/20/2000 and 10/21-10/25/2000. There were a series of 10 one-day CRs from 10/26-11/4/2000. The final seven CRs covered the periods 11/5-11/14/200, 11/15-12/5/2000, 12/6-12/7/2000, 12/8/2000, 12/9-12/11/2000, 12/12-12/15/2000 and 12/16-12/21/2000.

TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION FY 2001 APPROPRIATIONS SUMMARY TABLE

Prepared by: Michael E. Newman, NIST Public and Business Affairs
Phone: (301) 975-3025

Data from: NIST Budget Office, NIST Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs
Budget chart produced by: NIST Budget Office

Created: January 4, 2001
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov.