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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 11, 2024
Media Contact:
Office of Public Affairs, publicaffairs@doc.gov
President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Would Strengthen Commerce Department’s Mission to Boost American Innovation and Competitiveness
Proposed Budget Supports Key Commerce Department Initiatives and Programs to Increase Access to Good Jobs, Strengthen Competitiveness in the 21st Century
WASHINGTON – Today, the Biden-Harris Administration submitted to Congress the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Following historic progress made since the President took office—with nearly 15 million jobs created and inflation down two-thirds—President Biden’s 2025 Budget expands on the Department’s work as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America Agenda to promote access to good-paying jobs and equitable growth, bolster supply chains and national security, supercharge American leadership in manufacturing and innovation, and address the climate crisis.
The Budget requests $11.4 billion in discretionary funding and $4 billion in mandatory funding to support essential Commerce Department priorities that will drive American competitiveness. Resources provided through the 2025 Budget would build on the significant investments the Biden-Harris Administration has already made to revitalize the domestic semiconductor industry, ensure everyone in America has access to quality, affordable high-speed internet, and bolster climate resilience nationwide through the CHIPS and Science Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
“At the Commerce Department, President Biden has set us on a mission to make America more competitive, and his budget would enable us to meet that mission by investing in our workers, our communities, and our country to create jobs, grow workforce training opportunities, and catalyze innovation,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “The Budget continues to build on President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and will empower the Commerce Department to expand economic opportunity for the American people, better protect our national security, and promote renewable energy and conservation efforts for years to come.”
The President’s 2025 Budget for the Department of Commerce makes critical investments to strengthen American competitiveness in the 21st century. Specifically, the Budget:
Encourages Technological Development and Innovation across the Nation
The Budget includes $4 billion in mandatory funds for the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs Program to build on the one-time $500 million investment provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. The Budget also includes $41 million in discretionary funding for smaller grants that enable tech and innovation growth in underrepresented regions. In total, this funding would enable EDA to establish cutting-edge and strategic regional technology hubs that foster the geographic diversity of innovation and create quality jobs in and for underserved communities across the Nation.
Fosters Economic Development and Creates Good-Paying Jobs
The Budget provides EDA with $437 million to award grants that help communities across the Nation bolster innovation, competitiveness, and economic development. This represents a significant $131.5 million or 43-percent increase under the Biden-Harris Administration. As part of this historic investment, the Budget provides $41 million to continue the Recompete Pilot Program, a new program established under this Administration to provide flexible, place-based funding to communities working to reduce prime-age employment gaps in the most economically distressed areas. The Budget also proposes $41 million for the Good Jobs Challenge to fund high-quality, locally-led workforce systems that expand career opportunities for hard-working Americans, and $5 million for grants focused exclusively on the economic development needs of tribal governments and indigenous communities.
Promotes Leadership and Responsible Innovation in Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The Budget invests $65 million within Commerce to safeguard and promote AI, including protecting the American public against its risks. This funding would help Commerce to implement central components of the Administration’s Executive Order 14110, “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.” The U.S. AI Safety Institute, housed within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), would receive $50 million to continue its work of creating guidelines, tools, test environments, benchmarks, and best practices for evaluating and mitigating dangerous capabilities and conducting evaluations including red-teaming to identify and mitigate AI risk. The Institute will develop technical guidance on issues such as authenticating content created by humans, watermarking AI-generated content, evaluating and red teaming models, mitigating safety and security risks of models, and enabling adoption of privacy-preserving AI, and will serve as a driver of the future workforce for safe and trusted AI. The budget also allocates $8.8 million to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and $3 million to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to carry out work on AI.
Protects U.S. Technologies and Capital
The Budget provides $223 million to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). Facing rapid advances in technology, China’s continued efforts at illicit technology transfer to enable its military-civil fusion (MCF), and Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine, these resources would help BIS expand export enforcement domestically and overseas, bolster the Bureau’s capacity to identify sensitive, dual-use technologies eligible for export control and evaluate the effectiveness of export controls, and increase regional expertise to enhance cooperation on export controls with allies and partners. In addition, the Budget provides $5 million for the International Trade Administration (ITA) to effectively implement new requirements under the Executive Order 14105, “Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern” (Outbound Investment Executive Order), ensuring adequate resources to provide the sectoral and commercial expertise, industry connectivity, and actionable recommendations to ensure that the U.S. Government can understand and act on information received from covered transactions while also minimizing the risk of unintended disruptions to U.S. investment.
Supports Minority-Owned Businesses to Narrow Racial Wealth Gaps
The Budget provides an additional $10 million above the 2023 enacted level to increase the capacity of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) for a total of $80 million. Overall, this funding level reflects a $32 million increase for MBDA since the start of the Administration. This continued investment would bolster services provided to underserved enterprises, by expanding the Business Center Program, funding the Rural Business Center program, and supporting innovative initiatives to foster economic resiliency.
Supports Offshore Wind Energy and Climate Resilience
The Budget provides $53 million to expand offshore wind permitting activities at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a $31 million increase above the 2023 enacted level. This would support NOAA in its efforts to use the best available science to support the goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore energy by 2030 while protecting biodiversity and promoting sustainable ocean co-use. The Budget also provides $16 million for NOAA’s Climate Adaptation Partnerships, which would support collaborative efforts that help communities build equitable climate resilience.
Advances the Next Generation of Weather Satellites
The Budget provides $2.1 billion for NOAA’s weather satellites, a $432 million increase above the 2023 enacted level. This investment would maintain the existing fleet of satellites critical for extreme weather forecasts and invest in next generation systems that would provide more accurate forecasts and outlooks as well as new environmental monitoring capabilities as the Nation faces more powerful and frequent storms and extreme weather caused by climate change.
Protects High-Priority Natural Resources
The Budget provides $86 million to support NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine Protected Areas as part of the Administration’s America the Beautiful Initiative, which aims to conserve at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. This is an $18 million increase above the 2023 enacted level, which would expand critical conservation work and support the designation process for additional sanctuaries. In addition, the Budget provides $34 million, a $10 million increase over the 2023 enacted level, to support Mitchell Act hatcheries in the Columbia River Basin. These additional funds are part of the Administration’s commitment to prioritize the restoration of healthy and abundant wild salmon, steelhead, and other native fish populations to the Columbia River Basin, and honor the United States’ obligations to tribal nations.
Modernizes Research Facilities
The Budget invests in the fundamental infrastructure that makes cutting-edge science possible. The Budget provides $312 million for maintenance, renovations, and improvements at NIST research campuses, a $182 million increase above the 2023 enacted level. With these resources, NIST would overhaul the backbone of several electricity, heating, and cooling capabilities to enable its laboratories to continue to advance its measurement sciences and calibration services.
Improves Economic Data
The Budget provides $1.6 billion for the Census Bureau, a $93 million increase from the 2023 enacted level. This includes funding to support information technology system modernization to improve the collection and analysis of data, funding to improve how the Census Bureau measures the economic wellbeing of Americans over time, and investments in gathering data about Puerto Rico’s people and economy. The Budget provides $138.5 million for the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), an $8.5 million increase from the 2023 enacted level, to support economic statistics, including research on environmental-economic statistics.
For more information on the President’s FY 2025 Budget, please visit whitehouse.gov/omb/budget.
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