More for DOE, less for NIST in fiscal 2004 budget

On Feb. 3, President Bush sent Congress his proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2004, which begins Oct. 1. Complicating the budget submittal was the fact that
Congress completed most appropriations for the current fiscal year after the fiscal 2004 request was submitted.

The fiscal 2003 appropriations bill, containing funding for 11 of the 13 fiscal 2003 appropriations bills, was signed by President Bush on Feb. 20, and is at http://thomas. loc.gov/home/approp/app03.html. Please note that the file is extremely large and could cause computers to freeze.

Following are some of the highlights of the budget request for selected federal agencies and programs of interest to ASME members.

Department of Energy

The president's budget proposal of $23.4 billion for fiscal 2004 is nearly 12 percent more than the previous year.

The budget reflects several priorities of the administration: a "zero emissions future," exemplified by a sharp increase in requested funds for hydrogen research; security of the nation's nuclear weapons laboratories, as evidenced by a 9 percent increase in the proposed budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration, a DOE agency; and a renewed emphasis on research into sequestering carbon dioxide before it can be released into the atmosphere.

While overall the president's proposals for DOE did not elicit much reaction from Capitol Hill, his hydrogen initiatives and decreases in certain nuclear energy research programs did.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., criticized the president for his proposed $1.2 billion hydrogen research programs, FreedomCar and Freedom Fuel, claiming that the funding level was too low for a robust, accelerated research program. Both Senators plan legislation to sharply increase the amount of funding available for hydrogen research.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who wields almost unprecedented power over energy matters on Capitol Hill as chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, expressed his disappointment in the administration's attempt to reduce by half the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative, a favorite of Domenici's.

The fiscal 2004 DOE budget can be found at http://www.mbe.doe.gov/
budget/04budget/. For more information about the proposed budget for DOE, contact Francis Dietz at dietzf@asme.org.

National Institute of Standards and Technology

The president's proposed budget of $496.8 million for NIST is a decrease of $215.3 million from fiscal 2003.

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) would see its funding decrease $153 million from the fiscal 2003 enacted level of $180 million. Funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) would decrease $94 million.

The ATP has come under fire on Capitol Hill just about every year since its inception. The House has voted several times to eliminate the program, calling it "corporate welfare," but the Senate has always saved the program. Aside from ATP and MEP, the NIST proposed budget is essentially flat for fiscal 2004.

Additional information about the NIST budget can be found at http://www.nist. gov/public_affairs/releases/budget_2004.htm, or by contacting Francis Dietz at
dietzf@asme.org.

National Institutes of Health

In its fiscal 2004 budget, the administration has requested $27.9 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health, a $703 million increase. The National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, which ASME has supported since its establishment during fiscal 2001, is slated to increase by $4 million to $282.1 million.

The NIH fiscal 2004 budget request can be found at http://www.nih.gov/news/ budgetfy2004/fy2004presidentsbudget.pdf. For more information, visit: http://www. asme.org/gric/ICCFRD/NIH.html, or contact Melissa Murray at murraym@asme.org.

— Melissa Murray
ASME Government Relations

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