TMS Public and Governmental Affairs Resource Center

“The President remains committed to the success of the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) he announced in last year’s State of the Union address—and he looks forward to working with the 110th Congress to fully achieve his vision for competitiveness.” Thus began the briefing by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on President Bush’s proposed budget for FY 2008, submitted on February 5. OSTP emphasized the President’s call for making permanent an enhanced research and development tax credit; “greatly increasing and prioritizing Federal support for vital research” (a combined 7.2 percent increase over the proposed FY 2007 budget for the “ACI research agencies”—the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology); and “improving math and science education for America’s students” through additional funding in the Department of Energy. Despite the increases for ACI research and education, and other increases for weapons development and human spacecraft development, funding for the rest of the Federal R&D portfolio continues a downward trend in terms of real dollars. For example, after the much-heralded doubling of the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the FY 2008 proposal actually cuts NIH funding. And in education, while Pell grants and other programs show increases, the Administration proposes to eliminate the Perkins loan program, calling it “inefficient and duplicative.” This has been a perennial proposal that is reversed by Congress, where every state and virtually every Congressional district is home to beneficiaries of the vocational education program. House Science Committee Bart Gordon (D-TN) immediately criticized the proposed budget, saying that while it “includes some important funding increases, it lacks the priorities and consistency to ensure our competitiveness now and in the long run.” He was especially critical of the President’s emphasis on creating new math and science requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act while flat-lining most K–12 education programs at NSF.

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