By Rob Rains
ASME Government Relations Public Policy Specialist

The recent passage of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 (P.L. 111-5) fulfills the goal of addressing the nation’s global competitiveness by appropriating previously authorized increases to certain federal agencies under the terms of the America COMPETES Act of 2007.  For many in the science, engineering and technology (SET) community, this legislation was long overdue.

Recently, ASME President Thomas M. Barlow joined with IEEE-USA President Gordon Day and ASCE President D. Wayne Klotz to send a letter on behalf of all three societies urging lawmakers to support full funding for science, engineering and technology related agencies as part of the ARRA.  All three gentlemen, and a large contingency of their memberships, felt that such funding was critical for the nation at this precarious time.

In the fall of 2007, the SET community collectively watched with baited breath as the America COMPETES Act (P.L. 110-69), providing a gradual doubling of basic research  funding for three key federal science and engineering agencies- the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST)-  was passed with dramatic support from both political parties, chambers of Congress and the Bush Administration.

The goal of both the America COMPETES Act (COMPETES) and the engineering and research provisions in ARRA, are to address the nation’s increasingly challenged global position as the foremost nation in innovation and education.  Unfortunately, the ink had barely dried from the President’s pen that signed the America COMPETES Act when the bittersweet process of appropriating funding for the federal government for Fiscal Year 2008 (FY 2008) began.  A battle over the budget and less then 2 percent of total discretionary spending, $23 billion ensued, which, when finally settled, managed to torpedo increases for most of the aforementioned agencies’ authorized in the COMPETES bill.  Congress agreed upon a final bill, entitled the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, which was staggering, not for its generosity for engineering and science research but rather, its frugality.

Not only were the authorized increases not honored in the FY 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 110-161), but some agencies were leveled with funding decreases, forcing them to implement massive layoffs and grinding a significant portion of national scientific research, to an effective halt.  The federal investment in basic and applied research (not including development) for FY 2008 gained just 1.1 percent to $57.5 billion, less than inflation and far less than earlier congressional appropriations. This meant that federal research investment would decline in real terms for the fourth year in a row, and total federal research and development (R&D) would only increase 1.2 percent to $142.7 billion.

In the spring of 2008, facing another round of layoffs at DOE laboratories, Congress managed to pass an emergency supplemental funding bill that attempted to address some of the damage that had been done to the engineering and science agencies: NSF received $62.5 million, the DOE Office of Science received $62.5 million and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) received $62.5 million.  Unfortunately, some of the damage had already been done and layoffs had been implemented, threatening the stability of long-standing developmental projects and experiments.

Now, with the recent passage of ARRA, the NSF, DOE Office of Science and NIST finally have their first opportunity to receive these authorized funding increases, bolstering U.S. national security at a critically sensitive period in history and creating jobs as unemployment continues to rise.  Included within this historic piece of legislation is funding for the following:

• $3 billion for NSF to decrease the growing backlog on grants and to put scientists and their research agendas back to work;
  
  
• $2 billion for the DOE Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the U.S. and the manager of ten globally recognized national laboratories.  This includes $400 million for the establishment of an Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to cultivate energy breakthroughs and possibly lead to the commercialization of new energy technologies, as well as substantive improvements on existing ones and;
  
  
• $360 million for NIST to further promote measurement innovation and standards science. 

These provisions are not about growing the government, so much as growing the economy.  Indeed, numerous studies have documented the critical role that innovation and new technologies play in economic growth. For instance: the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) recently completed its report, “Stim-Novation: Investing in Research to Spur Innovation and Boost Jobs,” in which ITIF found that a $20 billion investment in our national research infrastructure will create or retain approximately 402,000 American jobs for one year. These numbers suggest that efforts to increase R&D spending, even on a temporary basis, can have a significant impact in creating jobs, leading to a faster overall economic recovery.

The inclusion of engineering and science, research and education funding in the ARRA has provided new hope that science and engineering will reclaim its rightful place in the global economy, recognizing the full breadth of its innovative achievement and trailblazing economic activity.    

Learn more about public policy and the various issues, that can impact the engineering profession.