[IP] "Congress Must Increase Bush's Science Budget" Roll Call 4-25-05
------ Forwarded Message
From: Peter Harsha <harsha@xxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 18:43:12 -0400
To: <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: "Congress Must Increase Bush's Science Budget" Roll Call 4-25-05
Blog post: http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000325.html
Roll Call Article:
http://www.rollcall.com/pub/50_104/kondracke/8980-1.html (subscription
req'd)
Roll Call OpEd Calls on Congress to Support Science
Roll Call's Morton Kondracke writes in an OpEd (sub. req'd) that
Congress must act to increase federal support for fundamental research
or risk future competitiveness. The good news, he notes, is that Rep.
Frank Wolf (R-VA), Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Science, State, Justice, Commerce committee, appears to be up to the
challenge.
-----
Wolf, who has led Congressional campaigns against gambling and has
focused national attention on religious persecution and other human
rights violations around the world, is now putting together an agenda
to reverse America's decline in science.
On April 12, he and two House colleagues - accompanied by former
Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) - announced the introduction of
legislation to have the U.S. government pay the interest on
undergraduate loans for students who agree to work in science, math or
engineering for a five-year period.
Wolf also favors holding a blue-ribbon national conference on
technology, trade and manufacturing where leaders of industry would
highlight the danger to U.S. leadership. He wants to triple funding for
federal basic-science programs over a period of years.
...
Wolf told me in an interview, rather diplomatically, that "I
personally believe that [the Bush administration is] underfunding
science. Not purposefully. I think we have a deficit problem, and
previous administrations have underfunded it also."
Gingrich is less diplomatic. "I am totally puzzled by what they've
done with the basic-research budget," he told me. "As a national
security conservative and as a world trade-economic competition
conservative, I cannot imagine how they could have come up with this
budget."
He continued: "There's no point in arguing with them internally.
They're going to do what they are going to do. But I think if this
Congress does not substantially raise the research budget, we are
unilaterally disarming from the standpoint of international
competition."
-----
Much of the credit for influencing Wolf's position has to go to the
Task Force on the Future of American Innovation (of which CRA is a
member). Their "Benchmarks of Our Innovation Future" report seems to be
resonating well with congressional offices, and special efforts to
reach out to Wolf (who has been very receptive) seem to be paying off.
Now the trick is to turn that enthusiasm into real appropriations --
something that remains a real challenge in current budget environment.
-Peter
--
Peter Harsha
Director of Government Affairs
Computing Research Association
1100 17th St. NW, Suite 507
Washington, DC 20036
p: 202.234.2111 ext 106
c: 202.256.8271
CRA's Computing Research Policy Blog: http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog
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