Hearing Held on National Science Policy Study

Continuing to solicit input for the National Science Policy Study, Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) held an April 22 House Science Committee hearing on "The Irreplaceable Federal Role in Funding Basic Research." This was the fifth hearing Ehlers has held as he gathers information to complete the National Science Policy Study.

Rep. Ehlers was appointed by House Speaker Newt Gingrich to head up the Science Committee's effort to design a new science and technology policy that can be used to plan for the future, set priorities for research, and build sustainable support for scientific research. (See the 11/14/97 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest at www.ssti.org for related information.)

The purpose of the hearing was to examine ways to strike a funding balance among researchers in government, academia, and industry. The hearing explored the nature of basic research today and the economic rationale for making it a priority of the federal government.

House Science Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI) offered the criteria by which he believes scientific programs should be prioritized and funded. The criteria are:

• Federal research and development must focus on essential programs that are long-term, high-risk, non-commercial, well-managed, and have great scientific potential;
• Federal R&D should be focused on agency missions;
• The marketing or commercializing of a product should be left to the private sector, as should incremental improvements in a technology or process;
• Partnerships involving industry, universities, the states, and foreign governments and institutions should be encouraged as ways to leverage taxpayers' investments in R&D; and,
• The infrastructure necessary for conducting essential federal R&D programs needs to be prioritized consistent with program requirements — funding should be driven by policy, not the other way around.

Rep. Ehlers stated,"Funding enough far-sighted, interdisciplinary research is a tension that is at the essence of the importance of renewing our nation's commitment to science: the very role that the federal government is most needed and best positioned to fill is perhaps the hardest to explain to the American people. Articulating a compelling economic rationale to justify investments in research that by definition is furthest removed from direct, immediate economic benefit is perhaps one of science's chief challenges in the years ahead."

Those testifying at the hearing agreed that R&D has contributed significantly to the nation's economic growth and standard of living, and that the federal government is the most important supporter of fundamental research. None believed that if the federal government reduced its support, private industry would be able to pick up the slack.

Testimony and additional information regarding the hearing can be found on the web at www.house.gov/science/ science_policy_study.htm.