EDA would lose $117 million in program funding, SBA’s entrepreneurial development programs would lose $34 million, NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership would lose $30 million, and Energy’s ARPA-E would be eliminated, among other cuts.
As SSTI noted for both the administration’s proposed FY 2017 and FY 2018 budgets, congressional statements rejecting the president’s total budget package did not necessarily make innovation safe.
The FY 2018 non-defense figure is $8 billion less than the baseline FY 2017 funding level — and a total of $43 billion less funding when supplemental spending is considered.
Appropriations subcommittees are required to fund programs only up to their assigned spending levels.
The mandate from House leadership to cut billions in domestic spending, therefore, accounts for part of the disconnect between members’ largely supportive statements for programs during committee hearings and the significant cuts in these bills.
Innovation Funding Levels
As of June 28, the House Appropriations Committee had released seven budget bills.
The following lists provide an overview of FY 2018 (compared to FY 2017) science and innovation funding levels on a per-subcommittee basis.
These markup bills are from the House appropriations subcommittees, and the full committee will consider each bill and have an opportunity to make changes, as will the entire chamber. The Senate is expected to begin its appropriations process within the next few weeks.
For the rest of Jason Rittenberg’s report, click here.