NIST Big Winner In Otherwise Tight Budget

Unlike many of his federal government peers, Patrick Gallagher had some good news to tout in explaining the fiscal year 2012 budget proposal for his agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

While the Commerce Department overall would receive $242 million less under President Obama's budget released Monday, NIST would get an 8.9 percent increase over last year's budget plan and a 16.9 percent boost over the amount appropriated for fiscal 2010. Gallagher, director of NIST, said the $1 billion budget request is "the result of priority setting by the administration." He noted that while the administration was tough on some programs, the president also tried to "set some real priorities where we have to make investments." Gallagher added that NIST's mission to promote innovation and industry competitiveness are "very well aligned" with the priorities Obama outlined in his State of the Union speech.