The House Appropriations Committee released a second of five appropriations minibus FY2020 spending bills for Commerce-Justice-Science, Agriculture-Rural Development-FDA, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development. The bill contains $73.895 billion in funding, which is $9.78 billion above the FY2019 budget, and will be considered by the House on Wednesday.
In a press release for the new package of bills, the House Appropriations Committee said the bill “provides strong funding increases to help create jobs; fix the country’s infrastructure; support U.S. manufacturing; research and prepare for climate change; promote civil rights; reduce gun violence, other violent crime, and cybercrime; address the opioid crisis; and help keep schools safe.”
For the Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) would receive $751 million in funding for “core NIST research activities to help advance the U.S. competitiveness, economic growth, and cybersecurity.” NIST would be funded at $1.04 billion total.
NIST isn’t the only agency that would receive funding for cyber support. The bill includes funding for the FBI for missions that include anti-cybercrime and counterintelligence. The National Science Foundation is funded at $8.64 billion that includes funds for cybersecurity, as well as neuroscience, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education.
NASA is funded at $22.32 billion in the bill and would allocate $123 million for STEM engagement – which is $13 million above the FY2019 budget.
The minibus package also includes $680 million to expand rural broadband services and $1.6 billion to continue the Veterans Affairs electronic health record system.
