February 24, 2010
Administration, Committee Agree on Importance of Sustained Investments in R&D
(Washington, DC) – Today, the House Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing to discuss the Administration’s FY 2011 budget request with the president’s top science advisor, Dr. John P. Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
“Recognizing that we are in a time of constrained budgets and some very tough choices had to be made, I was very happy to see strong increases for research and development in the president’s budget,” said Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN). “It is during these difficult economic times that we have both an imperative and an opportunity to invest in science, technology and STEM education, which lay the foundation for future discoveries and transformative technologies and—through them—sustained economic growth.”
The hearing focused on the Administration’s proposed FY 2011 funding for federal research, development, demonstration, and commercial application programs, in particular at agencies within the jurisdiction of the Committee.
Members and Dr. Holdren discussed the status of programs authorized in the 2007 America COMPETES Act, as reflected in the Administration’s budget request, in preparation for reauthorization. The FY 2011 request would keep the three science agencies authorized in COMPETES—the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science—on the doubling path which was enacted in 2007 and initiated through appropriations in 2009.
“Business as usual will not be enough to maintain our lead and to keep our own and the world’s best talent here in the U.S., especially as other countries rapidly increase their own investments in science and technology,” said Gordon. “These economic downturns present us with an opportunity to take a step back and think about how to innovate throughout our science and technology enterprise. We created ARPA-E in 2007 to move past business as usual in energy technology development, and, as part of the COMPETES reauthorization, we are continuing to look for ways the federal government can help foster innovation, support high-risk, high-reward research, and help get transformational technologies to the market.”
This was the first in a series of hearings the Committee will be holding in the coming weeks to examine the Administration’s budget request. NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr. will appear tomorrow to discuss the budget request for NASA and Secretary Steven Chu will appear on Wednesday, March 3rd to discuss the budget request for R&D programs at the Department of Energy.
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