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House Committee Hears Testimony on NSF FY2009 Budget
Members of the House Committee on Science and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Science Education met the President’s FY2009 budget request for the National Science Foundation with general praise during today’s budget hearing. During his testimony, Dr. Arden Bement, Director of the NSF, told committee members that the 13.6 percent funding increase from the FY2008 budget will help the agency get back on track for meeting the goals of both the President’s American Competitiveness Initiative and the America COMPETES Act. The ACI would double the NSF’s budget over a ten-year period, but faced an early stumbling block when the 2008 omnibus appropriations bill provided a nominal two percent increase over 2007 funding levels, instead of the expected ten percent.
In their report, “A National Innovation Agenda,” Science Progress advisors Tom Kalil and John Irons argued for a ten percent yearly increase to the NSF budget because of the central role the agency plays in spurring innovation and high tech job creation in the United States. Dr. Bement echoed these same sentiments in his testimony, equating investment in the NSF with investment in economic security and emphasizing the important role the agency plays in attracting bright young scientists and students from around the world. Other countries are increasing funding for their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education, he said, and if the U.S. fails to keep up, multinational companies will take their operations and high-paying jobs overseas. The FY2009 budget tries to address this concern with a boost to education funding skewed toward graduate student fellowships and grants, but continues to underfund K-12 STEM education, which is logistically difficult to improve due to a lack of a national science education standard, said Dr. Bement.
Dr. Steven Beering, Chairman of the National Science Board, offered testimony calling for the NSF to focus on both international cooperation and innovation sharing. “Science is an international language,” he said, asking that Congress designate money for international collaboration on scientific initiatives. He also spoke on one of the NSB’s upcoming projects to create a taskforce to study the engineering and science challenges related to sustainable energy.
Tomorrow, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science will hold their own hearing on the NSF FY2009 budget request.
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