The FY 2012 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 2596) will soon be under consideration by the full Senate and House of Representatives. This legislation proposes deeps cuts in the research budgets for the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia (AMTech) at NIST. 

If these cuts are enacted, it will eliminate one of the few ways in which the U.S. supports high-risk, high-reward technological research and reduce spending in high return-on-investment research areas central to economic competitiveness and job creation. The NIST Task Force of the ASME Knowledge & Community Sector recently issued a position statement on the FY2012 budget request for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) supporting full funding for the TIP and AMTech programs, which is now available for review.