For the past several years, the Bush administration has tried to eliminate funding for the program, and this year it may succeed.

The program received $80 million this year from Congress, but that was only about half the money the program received in the prior year, and only enough to fund previously approved projects.

"I think this may be the year in which ATP dies its death," said Kei Koizumi, director of the research and development budget and policy program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington. The fact that there are no new grants going out this year means the program is "just closing out its existing commitments," he said.

In the budget request for fiscal year 2007 that it sent to Congress this week, the Bush administration said the private sector should provide start-up financing, not the federal government: "Given the growth of venture capital and other financing sources for high-tech projects, there is little evidence of the need for this federal program."

ATP's IT projects included work on handwriting-recognition programs and software development in areas such as Cobra fault tolerance and cognitive learning systems.