President Signs FY07 Budget and Proposes Permanent R&D Tax Credit
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- SEMI commends the President and
Congress for final passage of the Continuing Resolution for the FY07
budget. Yesterday, President Bush signed a $463.5 billion bill into law
that covers all domestic and foreign aid spending for FY07. The bill,
passed by the House of Representatives on January 31 and the Senate on
February 13, contains increases for basic research at the National Science
Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST).
Last year, Congress adjourned with all but two Appropriations bills for
FY07 unfinished. Prior to the end of 2006, a Continuing Resolution was
passed on all remaining Appropriations bills until February 15, 2007
requiring government agencies to operate under the FY06 budget.
With the funding law now enacted, NSF's research activities will
receive a $335 million increase to $4.6 billion. Among other things one of
the areas expected to benefit from the increased funding is research on
single-molecule diodes that show potential to prolong Moore's law. In
addition, NIST will receive an approximate increase of $38 million to $432
million for scientific and technical research and services, which will in
part benefit broad research efforts in materials sciences, nanoelectronics,
and flat panel display technology.
"SEMI commends the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the
President for their commitment to basic research particularly in this time
of tight budget constraints. Funding for basic research is a critical issue
for SEMI member companies and it is vital to American competitiveness,"
said Victoria Hadfield, president of SEMI North America. SEMI has long
advocated for increased funding for the National Science Foundation and the
National Institute of Standards and Technology because of their significant
contribution to basic research. SEMI sent numerous letters and met
regularly with Members of Congress and the Administration urging that the
increase set forth by the President were kept intact for FY07.
On February 5, President Bush released his proposed budget for FY08.
NSF and NIST are slated for additional increases in line with the
President's American Competitiveness Initiative that would double funding
for these two agencies in ten years. The President's budget request also
called for a permanent R&D tax credit. "SEMI supports a permanent R&D tax
credit and urges Congress to approve it this year. This is a critical
incentive for promoting R&D investment in the United States. Given its
importance in advancing innovation the credit should no longer be extended
in piecemeal fashion and should be made permanent now," said Hadfield.
SEMI is a global industry association serving companies that provide
equipment, materials and services used to manufacture semiconductors,
displays, nano-scaled structures, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)
and related technologies. SEMI maintains offices in Austin, Beijing,
Brussels, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose (Calif.), Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore,
Tokyo and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit http://www.semi.org.
SOURCE SEMI
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Related links:
http://www.semi.org
CONTACT:
Ken Schramko, +1-202-289-0440, or
kschramko@semi.org, or Scott Smith, +1-408-943-7957, or
ssmith@semi.org, both of SEMI
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