Department of Commerce Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Request

The Department of Commerce budget makes critical investments in advanced manufacturing, innovation, entrepreneurship and competitiveness and trade promotion and enforcement to help create jobs. The nearly 5 percent increase reflects President Obama and Secretary Bryson’s commitment to encouraging U.S. manufacturing and helping more American companies sell their goods and services overseas. The fiscal year 2013 request is $8 billion and requests $2.3 billion in mandatory funding. The Department also identified $176 million in administrative savings, reflecting a strong commitment to wisely stewarding taxpayer dollars and making tough choices to prioritize programs that support the Department’s core mission areas.

Highlights of the $8 billion budget request include:

• Improving research: $86 million increase over FY2012 enacted for NIST laboratories and construction of research facilities, making good on the President’s commitment to enhance funding for the scientific research that has traditionally fueled American innovation.
• Spurring Innovation: The FY2013 Budget supports full access to fees for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to accelerate patent processing and improve patent quality as outlined in the America Invents Act.
• Informing the Nation: $970 million for the U.S. Census Bureau to sustain critical economic data collection activities and provide businesses with key statistics; $100 million for the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to produce the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to provide real-time information on the health and stability of the US economy.
• Increasing Wireless Access: $47 million to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to support the Administration’s efforts to free additional spectrum for commercial use, increase broadband access, and optimize other Federal agencies’ use of spectrum for radars, satellites, and public safety. NTIA, the FCC's partner in efforts to free up more spectrum for wireless broadband, also would see a slight boost in funding for 2013. The budget proposes $46.9 million for the agency, a small increase over the $45.5 million Congress appropriated for this year. The NTIA played a key role in distributing more than $4 billion in grants to spur broadband access and adoption and it is charged with continuing oversight of those grants in 2013. It also is in charge of managing the nation's spectrum holdings and is currently working to meet the president's goal of freeing up 500 megahertz in new spectrum over the next decade.