Statement of The Honorable John Marburger, III, Director of the Office of Science and Technology PolicyÊbefore the House Science Committee
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am pleased to appear before you today to discuss the President’s Fiscal Year 2003 budget request for research and development.
When I testified prior to my confirmation by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation last October, I expressed my desire to Òform a close and productive relationship with Congress, which has long provided bipartisan and enduring support of our world-leading science and engineering enterprise. The counsel and support of Members of Congress is an essential element of continued U.S. leadership across the frontiers of scientific knowledge.ÓÊ I look forward to working with you, Mr. Chairman, and your committee, to demonstrate this commitment to science and engineering excellence once again this year. President Bush has set forth an agenda for science funding in the forthcoming fiscal year that takes advantage of important opportunities for discovery and development, and also sustains the basic machinery of research and development that will be necessary for continued national leadership in science and technology.
Last October I also referred to the fact that we must make important choices together because we have neither unlimited resources, nor a monopoly of the world’s scientific talent. I continue to believe that wise choices among the multitudes of possible research programs are necessary, and that we must decide which programs to launch, encourage, and enhance and which ones to modify, reevaluate, or redirect in keeping with our national needs and capabilities. The President’s FY03 budget includes principles intended to improve the management of the nation’s science and technology enterprise, taking advantage of best practices, and emphasizing the importance of good planning, execution, reinforcement of good performance, and changing poor performance. I look forward to working with Congress to ensure that the significant investment, now over $100 billion, provided by the federal government to the support of science is deployed to optimal effect.
PRESIDENT BUSH’S FY 2003 R&D BUDGET
Shortly after I officially became the Director of OSTP at the end of October, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget invited me to attend and participate in the internal OMB decision-making sessions involving science programs. This series of meetings gave me a greater appreciation for the issues, and an opportunity to represent the science perspective on important aspects of the forthcoming budget, such as increased accountability and performance measures for basic science agencies. Following these meetings, my office has continued to work closely with OMB to share information and develop mutual understanding of the complex issues involved in establishing the nation’s science and technology budgets.
It has been a long five months. As you well know, agency budget proposals are submitted to OMB in mid-September for their review. The terrorist attacks on September 11 dramatically changed the context for this budget. The attacks laid bare vulnerabilities in our physical security and exacerbated weaknesses in our economy. The priorities of the nation drastically changed in a matter of a few hours.
The budget reflects the change in priorities and three primary goals:
- Winning the war on terrorism;
- Protecting the homeland;
- Reviving our economy
Recognizing that science must play a role in these priorities, the President provides for an unprecedented level of investment in federal R&D, marking the first time in history that a President has requested an R&D budget greater than $100 billion. The precise figure is $111.8 billion, up 8 percent overall from last year – the largest requested increase for R&D in over a decade.
The R&D budget is an imperfect measure of support for traditional science and technology activities. Another compilation, proposed originally by the National Academy of Sciences to assess the federal investment in research programs central to the creation of new knowledge, is called the Federal Science and Technology Budget. In this category, the President’s budget is up 9 percent.ÊÊ The FS&T activities account for nearly all of federal basic research, over 80 percent of federal applied research, and about half of civilian development. Mr. Chairman, this is a good budget for science, and I look forward to working with Congress to see it successfully enacted.
These science and technology investments will enable the Administration to: enhance homeland defense, national security and global stability; promote long-term economic growth that creates high-wage jobs; sustain a healthy, educated citizenry; harness information technology; improve environmental quality; and maintain world leadership in science, engineering, and mathematics. Let me now direct your attention to some specifics within this budget.
Interagency Initiatives
The budget increases funding for a number of priority research areas that require multi-agency efforts. Information technology, nanotechnology, and health research continue to be high priorities for our nation. The past year has also seen an increase in priority for climate change R&D. After the events of September 11th, Antiterrorism efforts naturally lead the list.
Highlights of the R&D Budget
The following examples within the agencies under the jurisdiction of the Committee will provide a brief snapshot of the Administration’s R&D request in these agencies:
In addition to the agencies that fall within your Committee’s jurisdiction Mr. Chairman, the Department of Defense R&D efforts increase $5.4 billion (an 11 percent increase) to $54.5 billion, and the entire National Institutes of Health budget increases by $3.9 billion (a 17 percent increase) to $27.3 billion, fulfilling the President’s campaign commitment to double funding for NIH.
President’s Management Agenda:
In addition to funding these priority areas, the budget also emphasizes the effectiveness of the dollars spent. An Òagency scorecardÓ is still at the experimental stage this year, at least for science budgets.ÊÊ I am pleased to point out that the only agency to achieve a green light in any category is the National Science Foundation. The President’s Management Agenda is as relevant to science missions as to other agency operations, and I look forward to working with OMB to make its provisions a more useful tool for all the agencies.
In particular, among the provisions of the President’s Management Agenda are investment criteria for research programs, pilot-tested at DOE this past year. In consultation with agencies, industry, and academia, OMB and OSTP will broaden the use of the criteria for applied research and to develop and apply separate investment criteria for basic research programs in 2004.
* * *
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I hope that this brief overview has conveyed to you the extent of this Administration’s commitment to advancing science and technology in the national interest.ÊÊ I look forward to achieving bipartisan support for a national S&T strategy that will combine the resources of industry, academia, non-profit organizations, and all levels of government to protect our citizens, advance knowledge, promote education, strengthen institutions, and develop human potential.
I appreciate very much the long-standing bipartisan support of this Committee for the Office of Science and Technology Policy and for the Science and Technology research enterprise. I would be pleased to respond to questions about this budget.
