[IP] Wolf Calls for Tripling of Basic Research
Begin forwarded message:
From: Peter Harsha <harsha@xxxxxxx>
Date: May 4, 2005 10:04:15 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Wolf Calls for Tripling of Basic Research
From the blog: http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000328.html
WOLF CALLS FOR TRIPLING OF "INNOVATION BUDGET"
Rep. Frank Wolf, Chair of the House Appropriations subcommittee
responsible for funding NSF and NASA, today stepped up his effort to
champion federal support for basic research by urging President Bush
to triple funding for federal basic research and development over the
next decade. Wolf made the request in a letter to Bush (pdf), noting:
"America today finds herself at a crossroads when it comes to
leading the world in science and innovation. We can continue down the
current path, as other nations continue to narrow the gap, or we can
take bold, dramatic steps to ensure U.S. economic leadership in the
21st century and a rising standard of living for all Americans."
The letter calls on the President to make a "bold commitment" to
invest in the future of the country by tripling of the "innovation
budget" -- federal basic research -- and continues:
"We must ensure for future generations that America continues to
be the innovation leader of the world. Investing in research and
development is a critical part of optimizing our nation for
innovation, a process that will require strong leadership and
involvement from government, industry, academia and labor. We must
choose whether to innovate or abdicate."
Since becoming chair of the reorganized Science, State, Justice,
Commerce appropriations committee in January, Wolf has become an
outspoken advocate for federal support of fundamental research. As
we've noted previously, much of the credit for this has to go to the
Task Force on the Future of American Innovation and its "Benchmarks"
report, from which Wolf apparently grabbed a number of examples for
his letter (he's cited the report elsewhere, as well).
Wolf's goal in writing to the President isn't to affect the FY 06
appropriations process directly -- after all, at this point the
President's only official role in the FY 06 budget process is to veto
or sign the final approps bill -- but to encourage the President to
make basic research a priority in his FY 2007 budget request. Doing
so would give appropriators next year more "headroom" to increase
budgets for basic research -- headroom sorely lacking this year. This
is an approach many groups in the science community (including CRA)
are taking as well, in addition to working very hard to get the
highest possible funding level in FY 06.
We'll have more details in the coming weeks on other opportunities
for Wolf and others to make the case for federal support of
fundamental research. In the meantime, you can read a scan of Wolf's
two-page letter to the President here.
Link to the letter: http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/Wolf-
to-Bush-Letter.pdf
-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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