Trump Wants IT Modernization Funding, but Will Congress Approve?

If President Trump gets his way in the next fiscal budget, Federal Agencies will get nearly $100 billion to spend on IT. The problem: The president never gets his budget request passed as written, and this president is attracting an unusual number of Congressional critics from within his own party, says Cisco Fellow Alan Balutis. There is no shortage of critique from outside analysts either.

However, Balutis notes that the budget process in Congress might leave IT funding in place. In fact, “Congress has a history of appropriating more for IT than the administration has requested. So prospects are positive for this community,” Balutis wrote in an article for MeriTalk.

Alan Balutis

Most press coverage of the FY 2018 budget proposal has focused on its deep cuts to various programs and organizations; federal IT, however, would total $95.8 billion, $5.4 billion more than the FY 2016 budget and 1.7 billion more than 2017. The total would include a $228 million pool earmarked for modernization and overseen by a board that would allocate the fund to the highest priority projects.

There’s no way to know what the final budget will look like after both houses of Congress have their opportunities to debate and amend it; it’s nice to see a focus on IT modernization, though, given how urgent the need is in many agencies.