Administration’s R&D Strategy Taking Shape

President Obama’s commitment last week to devote more than 3 percent of gross domestic product to research and development (R&D) was cheered by science and technology policy advocates. But they and others concede that topping the level achieved at the height of President Kennedy’s space race in 1964 will be tough. The stage is set for the perennial appropriations fight over scarce discretionary funds, and Obama has warned that budget cuts are coming for programs that do not perform. At the same time, university and private sector investments in R&D are struggling under the weight of the recession.

In his first 100 days, Obama has made his affinity for the topic known. In addition to his inaugural address pledge to “restore science to its rightful place,” his team helped secure funding boosts for R&D in the economic stimulus and FY09 omnibus packages. Paired with his initial FY10 budget request, those investments already represent the largest single increase for science and engineering in U.S. history, Obama’s science adviser John Holdren told the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Thursday.

The stimulus bill contained about $21.5 billion in federal R&D, while the FY09 omnibus included $151 billion, according to AAAS analyses. The president’s preliminary FY10 budget includes $7 billion for the National Science Foundation; $18.7 billion for NASA; and $6 billion for National Institutes of Health cancer research. It also would make permanent the research and experimentation tax credit that Congress has let lapse. The credit, which tech trade groups believe would help businesses plan for long-term growth, has met resistance because of its cost.

While revitalizing R&D programs across agencies is critical, Holdren hinted that his own office could use a boost. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which has a broad mandate to advise the president, coordinate interagency efforts, and work with outside stakeholders, has a “miserably low” budget of about $6 million a year, he said.

Last Monday, Obama told the National Academy of Sciences that his administration would fund the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, or ARPA-E, to conduct high-risk, high-reward research that could diminish the country’s reliance on foreign oil. While it was authorized by Congress in 2007, the program received its first funding of $400 million in the stimulus package. “I am confident that we will find a wellspring of creativity just waiting to be tapped by researchers in this room and entrepreneurs across our country,” he said.

The chairman of the Congressional R&D Caucus, Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., told CongressDaily he believed Obama’s science speech channeled Kennedy’s 1961 address to the same institution, which was followed by a declaration that the United States would send a man to the moon. Obama’s remarks “might have similar staying power,” Holt said. “This is good news for education in our schools and for funding research, and it’s a very welcome way of thinking,” he said.

“Obama has made good on the promise to use his bully pulpit to inspire innovators,” Council on Competitiveness Vice President for Government Affairs Bill Bates said. “That’s something that’s been lacking in the last several years, and it’s a role that really only the president can play.” The true test of whether the administration will make the kind of impact they have outlined will be 30 years from now if a new generation of science superstars emerge. “When asked to name a scientist, if we can get the American people to stop saying Albert Einstein, we’ll be in good shape,” he said.

A key element in achieving that goal is improving science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. Obama noted the U.S. school system continues to trail other developed countries and U.S. students are being outperformed by their peers in Singapore, Japan, England, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Another assessment shows U.S. 15-year-olds ranked 25th in math and 21st in science when compared to nations around the world, he said. “We know that our country is better than this,” Obama said. “I believe it is not in our character, the American character, to follow. It’s our character to lead. And it is time for us to lead once again.”

“It’s going to be hard to do what the president and I want to do,” Holdren told his AAAS audience. “We have an exceedingly demanding budget situation.” He promised to work closely with key allies in Congress, singling out Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman, but he left out names of appropriators. Holdren also said the OMB had already flagged 100 federal projects whose funding will be reduced or eliminated to make room for other priorities like new R&D efforts.

Holdren said there is potential for a “boom-bust” problem in which R&D appropriations would fall sharply after such a dramatic rise, and the administration has to make sure that does not happen. He added that science and technology policy “has to be much more than how much is in the budgets.” House Science Chairman Bart Gordon agreed. He told the same conference that in addition to “holding Congress’s feet to the fire” to fund innovation, the U.S. government must “be sure we spend our money wisely.”

Congressional leadership seems to have been bitten by the science bug too. During a talk at Princeton University in December, House Speaker Pelosi said: “If you want to know the agenda for this new Congress, remember four words: science, science, science and science.” She added: “We stand by this as the most important investment that we can make in health and education and energy independence, job creation and the defense of America.” In the months since, university and business representatives have become regulars on Capitol Hill to ensure the enthusiasm does not wane.