(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today urged Congress to eliminate the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Advanced Technology Program (ATP), which funds private sector research and development.  The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security, led by Chairman Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), will hold a hearing today on ATP.  On Wednesday, the House Science, State, Justice and Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee voted to eliminate funding for ATP in fiscal 2006.   

“ATP is the poster child for corporate welfare,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.

President Bush’s fiscal 2006 budget proposes to eliminate the program.  The House of Representa­tives has voted every year since 2000 to terminate ATP, only to have the Senate restore the funding in conference.  Last year, the Consolidated Appropriations Act earmarked $179.2 million for ATP for fiscal 2005.     

ATP funding began at $10 million in 1990.  Since that time, almost $2.4 billion has been appropriated for the program, large portions of which have gone to Fortune 500 companies.  According to the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool, ATP has failed to demonstrate results and is no longer warranted given the growth in available sources of private funding.  Past studies from the Government Accountability Office have found that many ATP grants duplicate work already being undertaken by the private sector.  The fiscal 2005 enacted level eliminated funding for new awards, so the program is already on a path toward termination.

“Facing a $427 billion deficit, taxpayers should not be subsidizing the research of select Fortune 500 companies, especially through a program that is so inefficient and wasteful,” Schatz concluded. 

Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization is dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.