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| Wilson Bill To Promote Science Research |
October 28, 1999 |
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| WASHINGTON -- Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM) today announced she will sponsor the "Federal Research Investment Act" in the House of Representatives. The bill is similar to a Senate bill sponsored by Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) that had 41 sponsors and passed the Senate by unanimous consent on July 27, 1999.
"The fruits of research and development (R&D;) sponsored by the federal government twenty or thirty years ago are all around us. It's in the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the cars we drive, the air we breathe, the computers we use, the phones we call home on, the lights we dim and the medicines and devices that lengthen and improve the quality of our lives," Wilson said. "The 20th century has been called the American Century. Decisions we make today will determine what historians will call the 21st. We must continue and expand the federal government commitment to basic and applied research."
According to a 1998 National Science Foundation study, more than 70% of all patent applications in America cite non-profit or federally funded research as a core component to the innovation being patented.
Since 1965, federal R&D; investment has fallen from 2.2 % of the Gross Domestic Product to less than 1% today. This bill sets a national goal for federally funded non-defense R&D; to double over the next 11 years.
"My home state of New Mexico has long been a leader in research and development in our national laboratories, universities and high tech companies," Wilson said. "Albuquerque is one of the fastest growing high tech cities in the nation. With remarkable advances in optics, electronics, medicine and computing going on every day, New Mexicans know the value of basic and applied research, whether it is supercomputers modeling the paths of hurricanes or polymers made into artificial muscles or detectors for e-coli in our food. "
Paul Shirley, President of SVS Inc., endorsed the bill. SVS is a New Mexico company that for the past two years that has been rated as the fastest growing technology firm in the state. He is worried about the nations "technology bank." "We cannot continue to draw from our technology banks without further investment in the next generation of technologies," Shirley said. "Our role as the world's leading technology innovator is seriously put at risk unless strong steps are taken to shore up these science and technology deficiencies and invest in the future."
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