Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Commerce- Justice-St...

Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Commerce- Justice-State appropriations bill Thurs. with FCC receiving $247 million in funding, $1.9 million increase from 2002. Sen. Hollings (D-S.C.) said bill included $12.18 billion for a variety of homeland security issues. He said most agencies received 4.1% increases for pay adjustment. Budget bill proposes allocations totaling $43.48 billion, up $2.9 billion in year. Most of increase would go to Justice Dept. (DoJ) counterterrorism efforts. Bill proposals included: NTIA, $81.7 million, up $415,000 from 2002, with $51.8 million for public telecommunications facilities, planning and construction ($8.2 million increase) that would be used for converting public TV stations to digital, and $15.6 million for Technology Opportunities Program grants. FBI, $4.2 billion, including $100 million for communications interoperability as part of Community Oriented Policing program (COPS); $21 million for National Infrastructure Protection Center and Computer Intrusion Program, and $145.9 million for information technology upgrade. FTC, $159.1 million, up $3.2 million. National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), $692.5 million, up $11.7 million. Technology Administration, cut $306,000 to $7.9 million. Patent and Trademark Office, $1.1 billion.