Reports
Document Number: NSB-95-254
Documentation Type: Board Statement
Meeting Number Dates: 12/14/95 to 12/14/95
FEDERAL INVESTMENTS IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Statement Adopted at the 333rd Meeting
of the
National Science Board
December 14,1995
For half a century, a national consensus -- firmly founded and
widely shared -- has affirmed that investment in research and education
in science and engineering is an investment in America's future.
Today we face the prospect of an unprecedented decline in Federal
support for civilian science and engineering. Long term budget constraints
could have a serious impact on our Nation's future well-being and
the life and health of all its citizens. The consequences for our
technological and economic leadership as we move into the twenty-first
century could be devastating.
During the Second World War, our leaders turned to science and
technology to assure the security and defense of our country. Since
then, a consistent and bipartisan policy of Federal investment in
research and education for civilian needs has built a research and
education enterprise of unparalleled scope and quality. This policy
has directly contributed to our economic growth, the productive
use and husbanding of our resources, and the health and well being
of our people. the new ideas, products, and processes resulting
from this national investment are responsible for much that we take
for granted today: the information super highway, television sets
and transistors, miracle drugs and microsurgery, and automated teller
machines, composite materials, and spectacular agricultural productivity.
These innovations illustrate one inescapable fact: science and technology
are uniquely important to our Nation's future.
The challenge confronting the Nation today is not only to reduce Federal
spending, necessary as that is. It is, also, to undergird the strength of
those industries in which we are still world leaders, like computers, telecommunication,
chemicals, aerospace, and biotechnology, and to assure our readiness to
capitalize on new scientific discoveries, innovative processes, and emerging
technologies. These industries and others like them are the foundation of
our national prosperity. Scientific and technical education and a vigorous
research enterprise are critical for positioning ourselves to meet future
challenges. The National Science Board urges that decisions on Federal R&D
budgets be framed with explicit attention to the fundamental importance
of US leadership in research, for the economy and for the well being of
the Nation. The Board pledges continuing commitment to strong support of
our vital national scientific capacity. The Board will work with Congress,
the Administration, business and civic leaders, and the public, to raise
awareness of the critical need to make and sustain a strong investment in
science for our future.
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