Date: 2001-05-08
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 that created the National Science Foundation directs the agency to initiate and support basic scientific research and to strengthen scientific research potential and science education programs at all levels. I am pleased to rise in support of this resolution that salutes the National Science Foundation on its accomplishments and success in carrying out this mission for the past 50 years. I thank the gentleman from Michigan . for putting forth this timely resolution. The National Science Foundation plays a unique and critical role in the Nations research and education enterprise. It sponsors research that helps to fill the storehouse of fundamental knowledge about the natural world. without regard for immediate applications of these hew ideas and concepts. Equally important. the National Science Foundation supports the development of the Nations human resource base in science and engineering. In short. the National Science Foundation is charged with helping to create the underpinnings for the Nations future technological competence and. therefore. for its economic strength and security. The NSFs record of accomplishment during this 50year history is remarkable. NSFsupported research have collected 100 Nobel Prizes. They have received recognition for work in the fields of physics. chemistry. physiology and medicine. and economics. National Science Foundations contributions are. in part. manifested through the accomplishments of scientists and engineers who were trained under NSF awards. It is wellknown that the great majority of the seminal work in developing such technologies as cell phones. fiber optics. and computer assisted design was performed by private industry. at labs like Corning. AT&T and Motorola. A recent NSFsponsored study has shown that many scientists and engineers who went to graduate school on NSF fellowships and research assistantships often played important roles in the development of these and other technologies. In a number of cases. they became the entrepreneurs who created new firms and markets. To use the words of the authors of the study. "NSF emerges consistently as a major. often the major. source of support for education and training of the Ph:D. scientists and engineers who went on to make major contributions." The resources NSF provides for support of research and education are relatively small. but the impact is great. The agency expends only 3.8 percent of .the Federal R&D funds. but provides 23 percent of basic research funding at academic institutions. For specific research areas. the National Science Foundations role at universities is even larger. It funds 36 percent of research in the physical sciences. 49 percent in the environmental sciences. 50 percent in engineering. 72 percent in mathematics. and 78 percent in computer science. The research awards and research fellowships help train over 24.000 graduate students each year. These are the future scientists and engineers who are essential to fuel Qar hightech economy. Further. the NSF programs help to improve science education for all students and prepare them for citizenship in a world increasingly dominated by technology. Today we continue to have a manpower shortage in many high technology fields. The ideal way to alleviate the shortages is by ensuring that children of all races and both genders receive the basic grounding in science and mathematics that will prepare them to pursue careers as scientists. engineers and technologists. The NSFs programs address this need. Because of the importance of NSFs role in research and education. it is essential that the agency receive adequate resource. Consequently. I am extremely disappointed by the fiscal year 2002 budget request for NSF. which provides only a 1percent increase. This is much less than what is needed to sustain the NSFs ongoing programs. In todays Congress Daily. a story mentioned how science funding is increased over Mr. Bushs request. While this is true. it is less than half the story. The conference cut funding for science below any Members request in either Chamber and below what President Bush asked for in every year but this year. The House requested $617 million more and the Senate requested $1.215 billion more. Indeed. over 5 years. the conference agreement is nearly $200 million less than the Presidents anemic numbers for budget authority. The only positive number from the conference agreement is the fiscal year 2002 budget authority number being $217 million above the Presidents request. Every other number is negative. meaning the conference agreement is lower than Mr. Bushs request. the Housepassed bill and the Senatepassed bill. How ironic it is now that we stand here today and honor the National Science Foundation. but at best hold their budget below inflation. Inadequacies in the size of the National Science Foundations current budget are evident by the fact that the agency currently funds less than a third of the research applications it receives and only about half of those judged to be of high quality. Even when an applicant receives the National Science Foundation award. it is usually suboptimal and perhaps half the amount of an NIH award. The current situation leaves researchers in NSFfunded fields scrambling fdr funds and spending too much time chasing limited funding rather than in the laboratory or mentoring students. In order to address this present situation. I. along with 16 of my Committee on Science colleagues. recently introduced a National Science Foundation authorization bill. H.R. 1472. that provides increases of 15 percent per year for fiscal years 2002 through 2005. The bill will double the NSF budget based on fiscal year 2000 appropriations level. Such increases are necessary to allow the National Science Foundation to go forward with substantial new research initiatives. provide needed increases in average grant size and duration. and support needed major research facilities for access by academic scientists. Equally important. a more robust budget for NSF will support expansion of the agencys science education programs. Of particular importance are programs to improve the skills and content knowledge of K through 12 science and math teachers and to increase participation in science and. engineering by traditionally underrepresented groups. It is also important to expand education research programs. including quantifying the most effective uses of educational technology and strengthening efforts to assess education programs to determine and disseminate information about what methods and approaches are most effective in improving student performance in science and math. Mr. Speaker. it is entirely appropriate that the House endorse the resolution now under consideration. which celebrates the past accomplishments of the National Science Foundation. However. it is of much greater importance that we ensure that the Foundation receives the necessary resources now and in the future to carry out its essential role in support of scientific engineering research and education. When funding measures for NSF are debated during the coming months. I hope all of my colleagues will remember the Foundations impact during the last 50 years and the promise represented by its current programs. Mr. Speaker. I commend to my colleagues this resolution honoring the National Science Foundation and ask for their support for final passage. This 50year report speaks to Americas investment in the future. That is what we are talking about when we talk about the funding for the National Science Foundation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.