Congress' tech funding falls short

Lawmakers agreed on six spending bills to partially fund the government for the rest of 2024, but fell far short of CHIPS and Science Act goals and agency budget requests. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration received less than half its requested $117.3 million. And the Department of Justice's antitrust division asked for $325 million to support its major tech antitrust cases against Google and other platforms but got $233 million. Lawmakers have until March 8 to pass this spending package, or there will be a partial government shutdown affecting emerging technologies and research and design.