June 3, 2006
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Federal Computer Week (05/01/06) Vol. 20, No. 13, P. 26; Sternstein, Aliya
President Bush's American Competitiveness Initiative promises to boost scientific research and development through a decade-long plan to raise basic research funding at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) by 100 percent, among other things. However, House Democrats say Bush's agenda is flawed: "The president's budget proposal for doubling the research programs at NSF, the DOE Office of Science and the in-house program at NIST--which is supposed to increase support for research in the physical sciences and engineering--is accompanied by significant cuts to the science programs at NASA and the tech base budget of [the Defense Department], which are also major sponsors of such research," notes House Science Committee minority leader and Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.). Such deficits should be addressed in current legislative proposals designed to spur innovation through more federal R&D investment, lawmakers contend. Gordon sponsors a trio of bills focusing on elementary and secondary school math and science education, basic federal agency research funding, and the reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The last goal, some innovation bills argue, could be achieved with the help of a new DOE organization modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, per recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences in a 2005 report. An R&D package that calls for the establishment of such an organization was introduced by bipartisan senators in January, and it also stipulates a doubling of the R&D tax credit and the creation of an incentive for employers who devote resources to worker training. Making the R&D tax credit permanent is a key provision of Sens. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Joe Lieberman's (D-Conn.) National Innovation Act, which asks agencies to pledge 3 percent of their R&D budgets for grants for innovative, high-risk projects.
For the complete article, see http://www.fcw.com/article94203-05-01-06-Print
Posted by rab5 at 07:37 PM
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