February 12, 2003—The US Office of Management and Budget released its proposed $2.2 trillion federal budget for fiscal year 2004 in early February. Highlights that could have an impact on facilities management include:
- Homeland security: About $500 million to assess the nation’s critical infrastructure (e.g., nuclear power plants, water facilities, telecommunications networks, and transportation systems) and to work to ensure that vulnerabilities are addressed.
- Energy conservation: Increased funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program over the next ten years in order to cut energy costs of 1.2 million low-income families while conserving energy. (The budget proposes to weatherize 126,000 homes in 2004.)
- Electricity: $1.5 billion over five years to research and develop hydrogen as an energy source.
- Workplace safety: An additional $25 million for OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
- Disaster recovery: Funding to support the Small Business Administration’s disaster recovery activities—such as the Disaster Loan program—at levels consistent with its five-year average of $760 million.
- Real estate: An extra $10 million to the President’s brownfields initiative, which targets abandoned real estate for development.
- Environmental: $150 million to cleanup orphan hazardous waste sites.
- Healthcare: The addition of 230 new and expanded health centers to serve an additional one million people in rural and underserved urban areas.
The full details of the FY2004 budget are available on the Office of Management and Budget’s Web site.
