President Obama this week released his budget proposal to Congress for fiscal year 2012, which begins in October of this year. The president’s budget matches his important State of the Union observation last month that “maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to America’s success” with new investment targets for an array of key science and innovation programs. Republicans have mapped out a different strategy, arguing that we need to cut almost all of these science R&D programs in a bid to reduce the federal budget deficit.
The budget debate every fiscal year sparks new questions about how much support the federal government should provide for the critical research and development in science and technology. But in this year of a politically split Congress, the question of “how much” is center stage. Perhaps the better question is not “how much” but “what for?” After all, if policymakers can agree on what has to be done to ensure our future economic competitiveness, then deciding how much to spend should become an easier task.
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