Praise For Proposed R&D Funding
House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., praised the Obama administration's proposed fiscal year 2011 budget proposal, which would boost funding for research and development across several agencies. "Creating new technologies--especially new energy technologies--and getting them to the market is critical to maintaining our nation's competitive edge, meeting our growing need for energy, reducing carbon emissions, and establishing U.S. leadership in these emerging fields," Gordon said in a statement. "Ultimately, this is the path to grow our economy out of a deficit."
Overall, the budget plan calls for a 5.9 percent increase over fiscal 2010 funding to $66 billion for nondefense research and development activities across several agencies. "After years of declines in the last administration, the 2011 budget keeps research funding on the upward trajectory that began in 2009 and with the recovery act continued" in 2010, John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said during a news briefing Monday.
American Association of Universities President Robert M. Berdahl echoed Gordon's praise for the budget proposal, saying it "underscores the president's strong conviction that the nation's investments in the people and ideas that lead to discovery and innovation are critical to short-term economic recovery and, especially, to long-term economic prosperity."
Gordon also lauded the administration for its commitment to double funding over 10 years for the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Energy Department's Office of Science, as called for in the 2007 America Competes Act, which Gordon authored. "I am pleased to see support from the White House to keep the agencies on a path towards doubling, as was set forth in the original legislation," he said.
In addition to increasing investments in R&D, the administration called for making the research and development tax credit permanent to encourage firms to continue to conduct research in the United States. Making the credit permanent is a key priority for many tech groups. The credit expired at the end of 2009 when the Senate failed to take up legislation passed by the House that included a one-year extension of the R&D credit.
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Budget
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