Remarks on R&D Funding: by John Podesta

....This morning, I'd like to explain why we believe that continued federal investments in research and development are so important, and why we're so troubled by the Republican attack on our science and technology budgets. We should all be working toward bipartisan progress -- not playing politics with an issue so fundamentally crucial to our nation's future.

Investments in science and technology -- both public and private – have driven economic growth and improvements in the quality of life in America for the last 200 years.

Many of the products and services we have come to depend on for our way of life in America -- from lasers to communications satellites to human insulin -- are all the products of US policies to encourage investments in science and technology....

In the last fifty years alone, technological innovation has been responsible for as much as half of the nation's growth in productivity. The information technology sector alone has accounted for one-third of our economic growth -- jobs in the IT sector are paying 80 percent above the private average wage....

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan recently stated that rapid technological change has greatly contributed to eight years of record peacetime expansion, and is one of the forces producing what he called "America's sparkling economic performance...."



It seems logical that there would be strong bipartisan support for federal investments in science and technology. After all, thanks to farsighted, bipartisan investments, the United States today has an array of major scientific facilities and accomplishments that are the envy of the world. And economists of all ideological persuasions

agree that the government has an important role to play, because individual companies can never capture all of the benefits of research.

But this year, the Republican-led Congress, to make room for their risky tax plan, is playing politics with science and technology funding. They have proposed deep cuts in many important research programs. And in so doing, they are threatening the potential progress of innovation in America.



1) So far, they have cut the President's request for civilian R&D by $1.8 billion, an 8 to 10 percent reduction.



2) They slashed funding for the Administration's information technology research initiative by 70 percent -- a program that would sponsor a wave of innovations in the same way that the ARPANET led to today's Internet.



3) They blocked the Administration's proposed increase for the National Science Foundation -- the only agency that has the responsibility of supporting research and education in all science and engineering disciplines.

4) They cut the NASA budget by $1 billion, threatening over 30 space missions. These cuts endanger future NASA missions like the Chandra Project -- which recently beamed vivid images of exploding stars and black holes back to Earth.



5) They cut $580 million from the budget for environmental and energy research -- dramatically undermining our efforts to increase our understanding of climate change, to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and to improve the quality of the air we breathe.



6) They eliminated the Commerce Department's Advanced Technology Program -- the only program that is explicitly designed to promote civilian technology in partnership with industry.



7) And by digging deep into the pork-barrel, they earmarked nearly $1 billion in R&D projects, undermining the discipline of competition and peer review, and slashing funding for higher priority projects. Although in 1994 Republicans pledged to cut wasteful spending, it's clear that they're more interested in larding up the budget

than pursuing cutting-edge research.



8) And as if this year's cuts weren't devastating enough, the Republican budget and tax plans could reduce discretionary domestic spending by roughly half in the coming decades -- inevitably leading to even further cuts in research and development. This is a 19th century budget for a 21st century economy. It appears that these Republicans grew up watching too much Fred Flintstone and not enough Jetsons.

These cuts are inconsistent with the Republican rhetoric on science and technology. Republican Senators have passed bipartisan legislation to double civilian R&D over an 11-year period. The Republican Chairman of the House Science Committee has introduced legislation that would authorize much of the Administration's

information technology initiative. But these lofty sentiments are nowhere to be seen in the House-passed appropriations bills, or in the Republican fiscal and tax proposals, which would devastate discretionary spending. We can't build a bridge to the 21st Century with press releases and empty promises....

Technological leadership is vital to the national interests of the United States. Most of the Federal research and education investment portfolio enjoyed bipartisan support during the first term of the Clinton Administration. I would hope that we can continue to extend this partnership with the Congress across our entire science and

technology agenda -- and promote private sector investment in research and development by supporting the R&D tax credit.

Such a partnership to stimulate scientific discovery and new technologies will take America into the new century well-equipped for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. A passionate interest in exploring new frontiers, a relentless quest for new knowledge, a fundamental belief in progress and in rising standards of living -- are all at the core of the American character.

Although it is virtually impossible to predict specifically how today's basic research results will eventually improve our quality of life, or to imagine the new industries and markets that will emerge, there is no question that such improvements and

industries will arise. Just as we now reap the harvest from past discoveries, the work of researchers and scientists will transform our lives as we move into the 21st Century....



Mr. Podesta is President Clinton’s Chief of Staff.