APS Letter to President Clinton on Scientific Research Funding

On December 13, former and current American Physical Society presidents Robert Schrieffer and D. Allan Bromley sent the following letter to President Clinton:

“As the federal government proceeds to develop its spending plans for Fiscal Year 1998, we call upon you and Members of Congress to renew the nation’s historical commitment to basic scientific research and education by providing the requisite funding for the federal agencies charged with these responsibilities. Our call is based upon a set of fundamental principles that are well accepted by policy makers in both political parties.

“The federal investment in scientific research is vital to four national goals: our military security, our economic competitiveness, our medical health and our quality of life.

“Scientific disciplines have become so interdependent that weakness in any one of them ultimately will prevent us from reaching these national goals.

“The DOE, the DOD, the NIH, and the NSF have the responsibility for maintaining the dominant fraction of our nation’s strength in basic scientific research.

“We strongly believe that for our nation to meet the challenges of the next century, the NSF, DOE and DOD this year require an increase in their respective basic research budgets of 5 to 7 percent to keep pace with the inflationary losses they have suffered during the last two years.

“Prudent planning argues for a common treatment of the respective activities of DOE, DOD, NIH, and NSF. To further constrain federal spending on the scientific programs of any of them could jeopardize severely the future well-being of our nation.”

Copies of this letter were sent to the Vice President and OSTP, NSF, DOE, DOD and NIH officials. APS has received one reply thus far, from Martha Krebs, director of DOE’s Office of Energy Research. In a January 2 letter, Krebs stated: “The fiscal year 1998 budget for the Office of Energy Research programs is still under discussion within the Administration. I remain hopeful that resources will be available to continue an appropriate level of investment in these important programs.”

The White House is finalizing its FY 1998 budget request for submittal to Congress on February 6. Reports indicate varying levels of agreement between the President and Congress about the critical issue of entitlement program cost control, which has a direct effect on discretionary spending. There has been much concern about future levels of federal research spending, since projections show a possible decline of 19% to 23% in nondefense R&D spending between FY 1995 and FY 2002. Last fall, Krebs characterized budget projections as “extremely stringent,” warning that major DOE research programs could not be sustained at such budget levels.