Rep. Holt: Stimulus 'Good News For Science'
Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., praised federal research and development dollars included in the $790 billion compromise economic stimulus plan, saying in a Thursday interview that the package is "overall good news for science." The legislation provides for significant increases for innovation at the National Science Foundation, Energy Department's Office of Science and National Institutes of Health and would offer substantially more than a bill to ramp up federal R&D that passed the 110th Congress but proved difficult to fund.
Holt, who is a scientist by training and co-chairs the Congressional Research Caucus, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama have for months insisted that investing in science and technology can help turn the economy around. The America Competes Act "was the best we could do in the previous negotiating climate -- but [the stimulus] goes way beyond that," Holt said, noting that R&D provisions of the original House proposal have largely been sustained. "The science spending in this bill is a better job generator than most of the rest of the bill," he said, estimating that 20,000 research positions are created for every billion dollars spent.
Despite his enthusiasm for the stimulus, Holt is worried that come appropriations season, some may argue that R&D has received plenty. "Underlying this entire stimulus package is the pledge that it not increase the base. A few years from now we don't want to be in a boom-bust cycle," he said. "I hope we can avoid a boom-bust cycle but I also will welcome the boom for however long it lasts." Read a summary from Holt's office about the $22 billion in stimulus R&D investments here.
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