Senate Poised to Slash EDA FY03 Funding

With the Senate version of the FY 2003 Omnibus Appropriations bill, Congress is considering a budget provision that could dramatically attack local, regional and state abilities to overcome the economic slowdown. The prospective target hits close to home for most state and local tech-based economic development efforts: the Economic Development Administration (EDA) is facing a 23 percent cut for FY 2003, the current fiscal year.

Introduced last week, the Senate amendment to H.R. 1, the Omnibus Appropriations bill, provides EDA with $257.886 million — $77 million less than EDA received last year and $144 million less than FY 2001. In his FY 2003 budget proposal, President Bush requested $349.9 million for EDA.

For building local technology-based economies, few federal programs compare in size and potential importance to EDA. Whether a state or community wants to fund strategic S&T plans, technology incubators, industrial research parks or university research facilities, no program directly co-supports with the state and local partners as much infrastructure, facility construction, and tech-based ED program capacity as EDA. The federal agency also supports a wide variety of projects to encourage information sharing across the country, including many reports and research papers, the widely respected web resource EconData.net, and publication and free dissemination of the SSTI Weekly Digest.

The cut would come at a time when states and municipalities collectively are experiencing the worst fiscal crisis in the last 60 years, and when many state and local governments are cutting economic development budgets in order to balance budgets strapped by increased Medicaid and homeland security costs. Cutting federal EDA funds would mean one less tool that states and communities have to help businesses foster the creation of critically needed high wage, high skill jobs.

A full 17 weeks into the fiscal year, Congess is trying to move quickly to put a FY03 budget in place before the President presents his FY04 request on February 3. Proponents of a larger EDA appropriation for the current year are recommending people contact their Congressional delegation in both houses of Congress very quickly to urge restoration of EDA funding to at least the FY02 levels of $335 million.

Particularly important are members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary. Senators on the subcommittee include: Robert Byrd (D-WV) Ex Officio; Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO); Pete Domenici (R-NM); Judd Gregg (R-NH), chairman; Ernest Hollings (D-SC), ranking minority member; Kay Hutchison (R-TX); Daniel Inouye (D-HI); Herb Kohl (D-WI); Patrick Leahy (VT); Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Barbara Mikulski (D-MD); Patty Murray (D-WA); and, Ted Stevens (R-AK).

Additionally, it is suggested that other members of the Senate Appropriations committee could be helpful: Robert Bennett (R-UT); Christopher Bond (R-MO); Sam Brownback (R-KS); Conrad Burns (R-MT); Thad Cochran (R-MS); Larry Craig (R-ID); Mike DeWine (R-OH); Byron Dorgan (D-ND); Richard Durbin (D-IL); Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Tom Harkin (D-IA); Tim Johnson (D-SD); Mary Landrieu (D-LA); Harry Reid (D-NV); Richard Shelby (R-AL); and, Arlen Specter (R-PA).

Contact information is available at: http://www.senate.gov