The White House called on the Senate to appropriate FY2019 funding for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF), although it did not suggest a specific funding level in a statement of administration policy issued by the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday.
Commenting on a lengthy list of items in FY2019 appropriations legislation covering Interior, Environment, Financial Services, and General Government Appropriations, OMB said the White House “appreciates” the Senate Appropriations Committee’s “prior attention to modernizing vulnerable and inefficient legacy IT systems” by funding TMF in FY2018, and said it urged “continued support for TMF in FY2019 as a means of addressing these pressing challenges.”
Noting that the Senate committee moved on June 21 to zero out FY2019 TMF funding and instead asked the administration for more information about potential TMF-funded projects, the White House said Tuesday that “any additional funding would be well-utilized.”
The White House also said it “will continue working with Congress to demonstrate the taxpayer value generated by the TMF.”
The Senate committee said in June that it wanted more information from the administration about TMF-funded projects by July 21.
The House Appropriations Committee voted last month to provide $150 million of funding for TMF, with language encouraging funding for projects to improve citizen-facing services, among other priorities.
