Looking Back: Notable Quotations from 2000
A next-to-last look at 2000, with the following quotations from FYI in 2000:
“University-based research provides the kind of fundamental insights that are the most important building blocks of any new technology or treatment. It also helps produce the next generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. We’re going to give university-based research a major lift.” - President Clinton, before the release of his FY 2001 budget request
“When Alan Greenspan continually says that at least 70 percent of our economic boom is due to technological advances, I think everyone across the country gets it.” - National Science Foundation Director Rita
“Science and technology has been an area that garnered strong bipartisan support and it should, because it’s so clear from every study, every kind of data, economic analysis, that the federal investment in science and technology is about as good an investment as you can possibly make with the American taxpayer’s money.” - Neal Lane, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology
“I don’t want this to ever happen again.” - Department of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson on NIF problems
“I believe this [budget] resolution puts us exactly in the same position we were in last year, putting our necks in the noose and handing the president the rope.” - Rep. John Porter (R-IL) “I just wish our wallet could match our warmth” - Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) at NSF budget hearing
“In a world being transformed by technology, good science is vital to good diplomacy.” - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
“This is a day of joy; I mean that most sincerely.” - Senator John Warner (R-VA) at the nomination hearing for General John Gordon to head the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
“I am certain that the very bright and dedicated people at NNSA can do both - pursue modern science in the most dynamic and creative ways, while protecting secrets and national security.” - General John Gordon
“If current trends persist, our nation may begin to fall far short of the talent needed to spur the innovation process that has given America such a strong economy and high quality of life.” - Neal Lane on S&T workforce projections
“As I learned during my recent tenure as Director of the National Institutes of Health, it is crucial that leaders of science agencies be able to anticipate several years of steady growth during periods of expansion.” - Harold Varmus
“We face a situation where we are talking about putting together a [National Missile Defense] system that the best scientists in the world tell us could literally be rendered absolutely inoperative, if it is simply deployed; all you have to do is put the system out there, and you have the ability to create decoys with fairly unsophisticated technology.” - Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
“Despite a number of problems, I believe NASA’s space science program remains its greatest success.” - Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA)
“Expanding the number of individuals prepared to use a greater proportion of their intellectual capacity means, among other things, that our elementary and secondary students must broaden their skills in mathematics and related sciences.” - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan
"...our effort here is not to create a new bureaucracy but it is to put somebody in charge of this new exciting field that is driven by technology to make sure that every patient in America has early detection as a tool against disease....” - Rep. Richard Burr (R-NC) describing his bill to authorize a National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
“It is worth emphasizing that U.S. science is strong, in a large part, because U.S. scientists and engineers have come from everywhere, and they continue to communicate - openly - with the world’s best minds, whatever country they hail from.” - Neal Lane
“The Congress knows that it is performance that counts, and this [FY 2001] budget is a tribute to NASA’s performance.” - NASA Administrator Dan Goldin
“Morale at the labs is already bad, and these provisions won’t improve the situation.” - Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) on new polygraphing requirements
“The momentum at a national level in the physical sciences is one of decline. We should be disturbed by this trend - the physical sciences are the foundation of the microchip industry, the telecommunications industry, the transportation industry and the petrochemical industry. We are talking about what fuels our engine of U.S. economic growth - high technology and maintaining a commanding lead in a 21st century global economy.” - Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) in discussing funding trends for the DOE’s Office of Science
“It’s apparent that we need to make a major investment in upgrading teacher skills in math, science and other subjects.” - Secretary of Education Richard Riley
“A new administration needs to move quickly to identify and nominate highly qualified scientists and engineers to fill key positions - beginning with the assistant to the president for science and technology.” - John McTague, director of OSTP in the Reagan Administration at a September public briefing at the National Academies
