Press Releases :: February 4, 2008

Gordon on President’s FY09 Budget: Plan Shortchanges U.S. Competitiveness Efforts

(Washington, DC) U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) offered the following comment on the Administration’s FY 2009 budget submitted to Congress today:

“Today, the Administration submitted its Fiscal Year 2009 budget request to Congress.  While the almost $3.11 trillion budget includes $147 billion for R&D, it proposes an incomplete and short-sighted plan to promote U.S. competitiveness.”

“Last August, Congress passed and the President signed into law the America COMPETES Act (COMPETES).  A response to the 2005 National Academies’ report Rising Above the Gathering Storm, and supported by a wide range of U.S. industries, universities, and science organizations, COMPETES seeks to ensure U.S. students, teachers, businesses, and workers will continue leading the world in innovation, research, and technology well into the future.”

“COMPETES will assure that our nation produces not just the world’s leading scientists and engineers, but the technical workers needed in all sectors of the economy.  That’s why the law authorizes increased funding for basic research and early career scientists as well as robust K-12 math and science education programs at NSF and other agencies.” 

“The President’s budget boosts funding for basic research at NSF, but doesn’t make education a priority – Robert Noyce scholarships and Math and Science Partnerships to train STEM teachers and students are underfunded by more than $100 million and $60 million, respectively.  The President noted in his State of the Union address that U.S. math scores among some students were up.  However, according to the most recent indicators, U.S. high school students rank 25^th out of 30 developed countries in math and 21^st out of 30 in science.  There is more work to be done – and underfunding COMPETES initiatives doesn’t help in that effort.”

“COMPETES also seeks to ensure that U.S. companies and small businesses lead the world in innovation and create jobs in the process.  Since taking office, this Administration has overseen the loss of 3.4 million manufacturing jobs with 217,000 jobs lost in 2007 alone, and manufacturing employment in the U.S. now stands at its lowest point since 1950.  COMPETES seeks to reverse this trend with robust funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and Technology Innovation program (TIP - formerly ATP) – both of which have proven track records for return on investment and job creation.  However, the Administration’s budget phases out MEP and eliminate TIP immediately.  These are good American job creators this budget is putting in jeopardy.”

“Finally, COMPETES seeks to help reduce our energy dependence and address global climate change through an Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).  Modeled after the Department of Defense’s successful DARPA program, ARPA-E is charged with rapidly developing and commercializing transformational clean energy technologies.”

"The ‘new’ proposals in the Administration’s budget with regard to energy are nothing new at all and simply miss the point.  Instead of showing true leadership in energy research by establishing ARPA-E, the Administration points in this budget to a few existing programs and a vague policy statement as a sufficient alternative.  ARPA-E should be a small but aggressive new program that reports directly to the Secretary, pursues truly cross-cutting research that does not fit into the current bureaucratic research departments, and extends federal energy research funding beyond the National Laboratories to academia and the private sector.” 

“The President is right that basic research included in his American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) is important to our economy and our future. But he’s undoubtedly wrong that we don’t also need an educated workforce, an investment in small manufacturers that create jobs, and a commitment to cutting edge research.” 

“Last year, the President threatened to veto appropriations bills that would have come much closer to fully funding COMPETES, as well as his ACI.  The Administration should listen to the businesses and educators and scientists and engineers in this country and support full funding of COMPETES this year.”

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