Democrats Argue for Protecting Federal Investment in Science & Technology

Republicans in the House and Senate are currently struggling to come to agreement on the provisions of their budget-cutting reconciliation bill, so they can send it to President Clinton before Thanksgiving. At the same time, the White House and congressional Democrats are speaking out frequently and forcefully on areas of federal funding they believe should be preserved. One of these areas is science and technology.

Six Democratic senators held a news conference on November 8 to raise concerns about future reductions to science and technology spending under the Republican plan. Attending the conference were Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), John Glenn (D-OH), Ernest Hollings (D-SC), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), as well as the President’s Assistant for Economic Policy, Laura D’Andrea Tyson, and Assistant for Science Policy, John Gibbons. Bingaman defended public-private technology partnerships as “a way for the government to economize” by encouraging private sector collaboration and cost-sharing on R&D important to the nation. “Some of my Republican colleagues think they can cut [R&D]...because the private sector will pick up the slack,” Lieberman said. But he cited historical evidence that when the government cuts back on R&D funding, the private sector follows suit.

Tyson and Gibbons reiterated the Administration’s theme that balancing the budget is counterproductive if it eliminates the investments needed for future economic growth and job creation. They cited an estimate, calculated by AAAS, that federal civilian R&D funding would be cut by 30 percent between now and 2002 if the Republican balanced-budget plan is fully enacted. (Clinton’s revised plan to bring the budget into balance by 2004 does not go into sufficient detail to directly compare, but it would cut non-defense discretionary spending - within which civilian R&D is supported - less deeply than Congress’s plan.)

The news conference provided an opportunity to highlight two recent Administration reports on the importance of technology to the nation. One, by the Council of Economic Advisors, is summarized in FYI #157; the other is a 23-page White House paper entitled “Technology and Economic Growth: Producing Real Results for the American People.” The White House document repeats many of the conclusions of the Council of Economic Advisors: since World War II, technological innovation has been responsible for up to one-half of the nation’s economic growth, but many of the investments that were of the greatest benefit to society were too expensive, or their returns too broadly spread, for private industry to support alone. The paper lists some of the results of technology investment by the government, often in partnership with the private sector: lasers, computers, biomedical technologies, teflon and other advanced materials, communications satellites, microwave ovens, solar cells, modems, semiconductors, and insulin, as well as advances in medicine, agriculture, transportation and manufacturing. “The government has supported - and must continue to support - exploratory research, experimentation and innovation that would be impossible for individual companies or even whole industries to afford,” it says.

For a copy of the White House paper, fax your request to 202-456-6019 or send an email to rborchelt@ostp.eop.gov .