[Economic Outlook, Highlights from FY 1994 to FY 2001, FY 2002 Baseline Projections]
[III. Major Functions of the Federal Government]
[4. General Science, Space, and Technology]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
[[Page 61]]
4. GENERAL SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 4-1. Federal Resources in Support of General Science, Space, and Technology
(Dollar amounts in millions)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percent
Function 250 1993 2001 Change:
Actual Estimate 1993-2001
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spending:
Discretionary budget authority............................................ 17,214 20,830 21%
Tax expenditures............................................................ 3,300 7,700 133%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Investments in scientific discovery and technological development both
public and private have driven economic growth and improvements in the
quality of life in America for as long as our Nation has existed. (See
Table 4-2.) In the last fifty years, developments in science and
technology have generated at least half of the Nation's productivity
growth, creating millions of high-skill, high-wage jobs. Federal
Government support for science and technology has helped put Americans
on the Moon, harnessed the atom, tracked weather patterns and earthquake
faults, and deciphered the chemistry of life.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 4-2. Selected Research Increases
(Budget authority, dollar amounts in millions)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percent
1993 2001 Change:
Actual Enacted 1993-2001
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Institutes of Health............................................... 10,335 20,370 97%
National Science Foundation................................................. 2,750 4,426 61%
Total 21st Century Research Fund............................................ 29,681 44,908 51%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: See Table 4-4 for details.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1993, President Clinton took office committed to expanding
investment in civilian research and development (R&D), because
technological advances are key to progress and economic growth. The
President's economic strategy relied upon the critical element of
investing in people and proposed targeted investments to help the Nation
compete in the global economy and improve our quality of life. The
Clinton-Gore Administration's investments in R&D were guided by several
fundamental principles, including the following: a) sustain and nurture
America's world-leading science and technology enterprise, through
pursuit of specific agency missions and through stewardship of critical
research fields and scientific facilities; b) strengthen and expand
access to high-quality science, mathematics, and engineering education,
and contribute to preparing the next generation of scientists and
engineers; c) focus on activities that require a Federal presence to
attain national goals, including national security, environmental
quality, economic growth and prosperity, and human health and well
being; or, d) promote inter
[[Page 62]]
national cooperation in science and technology that would strengthen the
advance of science and achievement of national priorities.
In his first year, the President proposed and secured passage of a
research tax credit to spur additional basic and applied research as
well as significant investments to fund R&D in a range of fields. In
keeping with the emphasis on civilian research and development, the
Administration increased the share for civilian R&D investments, from 42
percent in 1993 to 50 percent in 2001. Discretionary funding in the
general science, space, and technology function increased by 21 percent
from $17.2 billion in 1993 to $20.8 billion in 2001. (A restructuring of
budget accounts in 1998 and 1999 added $1.5 billion in 2001 for this
function for Department of Energy (DOE) R&D activities. These amounts
were included in the energy function--see Chapter 5, ``Energy''--in
1993.) During this same period, total Federal funding for R&D across all
budget functions increased by 24 percent, from $72.5 billion to $90.2
billion, while funding for defense R&D received a more modest increase
of seven percent, from $42.2 billion to $45.0 billion (see Table 4-3).
Defense R&D currently accounts for nearly 90 percent of federally-funded
development, which decreased by one percent since 1993, from $42.8
billion in 1993 to $42.5 billion in 2001.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 4-3. Research and Development Investments \1\
(Budget authority, dollar amounts in millions)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percent Percent
1993 2000 2001 Change: Change:
Actual Actual Enacted 1993 to 2000 to
2001 2001
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Funding by R&D Type:
Basic Research.............................................. 13,362 19,323 21,861 64% 13%
Applied Research............................................ 13,608 18,642 21,182 56% 14%
Development \2\............................................. 42,795 40,399 42,518 -1% 5%
Equipment................................................... \3\ 983 1,094 NA 11%
Facilities.................................................. 2,727 3,728 3,552 70% -5%
-------------------------------------------------
Total..................................................... 72,492 83,075 90,207 24% 9%
Funding by R&D Share:
Civilian.................................................... 30,329 40,471 45,181 49% 12%
Defense..................................................... 42,163 42,604 45,026 7% 6%
-------------------------------------------------
Total..................................................... 72,492 83,075 90,207 24% 9%
-------------------------------------------------
Civilian (percent).......................................... 42% 49% 50%
R&D Support to Universities................................... 11,674 14,377 16,365 40% 14%
Science and Technology Initiatives:
National Nanotechnology Initiative.......................... NA 267 420 NA 57%
Information Technology R&D.................................. 728 1,543 2,006 176% 30%
Climate Change Technology Initiative........................ NA 1,096 1,239 NA 13%
Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles................ NA 224 236 NA 5%
U.S. Global Change Research Program......................... 1,326 1,692 1,700 28% *
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* = 0.5 percent or less.
NA = Not applicable.
\1\ Includes funding from multiple functions.
\2\ Defense R&D funding is the source of nearly 90 percent of Federal development funding.
\3\ Equipment and facilities data were not collected separately in 1993.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 4-4. 21st Century Research Fund \1\
(Budget authority, dollar amounts in millions)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percent Percent
1993 2000 2001 Change: Change:
Actual Actual Enacted 1993 to 2000 to
2001 2001
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Health and Human Services:
National Institutes of Health............................... 10,335 17,813 20,370 97% 14%
National Science Foundation................................... 2,750 3,897 4,426 61% 14%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA):
Space Science............................................... 1,770 2,193 2,508
Earth Science............................................... 996 1,443 1,498
Aerospace Technology........................................ 884 985 1,107
Life and Microgravity Sciences.............................. 408 275 317
-------------------------------
NASA Total................................................ 4,058 4,896 5,430 34% 11%
Department of Energy (DOE):
Science Programs............................................ 3,066 2,788 3,186
Solar and Renewable R&D..................................... 249 315 375
Energy Conservation R&D..................................... 346 577 626
-------------------------------
DOE Total................................................. 3,661 3,680 4,187 14% 14%
Department of Defense (DOD):
Basic Research.............................................. 1,314 1,161 1,318
Applied Research............................................ 3,549 3,410 3,690
-------------------------------
DOD Total................................................. 4,863 4,571 5,008 3% 10%
Department of Agriculture (USDA):
CSREES Research and Education............................... 433 487 543
Economic Research Service................................... 59 53 55
Agricultural Research Service............................... 661 830 916
Forest Service Research..................................... 183 218 246
-------------------------------
USDA Total................................................ 1,336 1,588 1,760 32% 11%
Department of Commerce (DOC):
Oceanic and Atmospheric Research............................ 202 298 358
National Institutes of Standards and Technology \2\......... 364 534 494
-------------------------------
DOC Total................................................. 566 832 852 51% 2%
Department of Transportation (DOT):
Highway Research............................................ 221 490 437
Aviation Research........................................... 230 156 187
-------------------------------
DOT Total................................................. 451 646 624 38% -3%
Department of Interior: U.S. Geological Survey................ 750 813 882 18% 8%
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
Office of Research and Development.......................... 517 561 573
Climate Change Technology programs.......................... NA 103 96
-------------------------------
EPA Total................................................. 517 664 669 29% 1%
Department of Education: Research programs.................... 162 319 349 115% 9%
Department of Veterans Affairs: Medical Research.............. 232 321 351 51% 9%
-------------------------------------------------
21st Century Research Fund.................................... 29,681 40,040 44,908 51% 12%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NA = Not applicable.
\1\ Includes funding from multiple functions.
\2\ Does not include Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1999, the President established the 21st Century Research Fund for
America (see Table 4-4), relying upon a coordinated and balanced
investment strategy to provide resources for basic research at the
National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation
(NSF), and DOE, and a wide range of applied research activities in areas
such as the environment, agriculture, energy, computers, communications,
and transportation. In addition to allocating resources in a balanced
manner across several budget
[[Page 64]]
functions, the Research Fund serves as an effective tool to ensure that
complementary disciplines are funded consistent with a balanced
portfolio of research activity. The Research Fund also focuses on basic
research and strengthening university-based research. During this
Administration, funding for programs in the 21st Century Research Fund
has grown 52 percent from $29.7 billion in 1993 to $44.9 billion in
2001. During this same period, funding support for universities grew to
nearly $16.4 billion in 2001, a 40-percent increase since 1993.
This Administration also promoted high-priority multiagency science
and technology initiatives in strategic areas important to the future of
the Nation. These efforts include investments in information technology
research, nanotechnology, global change, climate change technologies,
and the next-generation of fuel-efficient, environmentally-smart
vehicles. These priority areas hold great promise for breakthroughs that
are revolutionary, that drive the economy and that likely will change
the way we think and live.
Within the general science, space, and technology function, the
Federal Government supports areas of cutting-edge science and
technology, through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), NSF, and DOE. The activities of these agencies contribute to
greater understanding of the world in which we live, ranging from the
edges of the universe to the smallest imaginable particles, and to new
knowledge that may have applications that improve our lives. Each of
these agencies fund the construction and operation of major scientific
facilities on Earth or in space for multiple users. These agencies also
contribute to the Nation's cadre of skilled scientists and engineers. A
description of the accomplishments during the Clinton-Gore
Administration for NASA, NSF, and DOE follows.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA is the lead Federal agency for R&D in civil space activities,
working to expand frontiers in air and space to serve America and
improve the quality of life on Earth. NASA pursues this vision through
investments in five enterprises (Space Science, Earth Science,
Biological and Physical Research, Aero-Space Technology, and Human
Exploration and Development of Space) and missions to carry out these
activities.
Space Science: Space Science programs are designed to enhance our
understanding of the possible existence of life beyond Earth, the
fundamental rules that governed the creation and evolution of our
universe and its galaxies, stars, planets and life, and how changes in
the Sun can affect Earth. Highlights of Space Science mission
accomplishments during this Administration include:
Using images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft,
scientists discovered new geological features suggesting the
existence of large sources of liquid water at or near the
surface of Mars. This discovery, combined with microscopic
evidence of possible bacterial fossils in Martian meteorites,
revolutionized scientific views on the potential for life on
Mars.
Using images and other data from NASA's Galileo mission to
Jupiter, scientists discovered evidence which strongly
suggests that Jupiter's moon, Europa, harbors a subterranean
ocean beneath its icy crust, further extending possible abodes
for life elsewhere in our solar system.
Astronomers funded by NASA and NSF discovered the first
scientific evidence that planets exist in other star systems.
Astronomers have identified approximately 50 stars that have
evidence of planetary companions to date.
On July 4, 1997, NASA successfully landed the Mars Pathfinder
spacecraft and its Sojourner rover on Mars. The Pathfinder
mission garnered worldwide interest, with almost one billion
``hits'' on Pathfinder's web site. The cost of the Pathfinder
mission was one-sixth that of one of NASA's Viking missions
that landed on Mars in 1976.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took images of the most distant
parts of our universe yet seen. Calculations of the distance
to some faraway galaxies based on Hubble data show that our
universe is expanding faster than previously understood and
[[Page 65]]
have led to new theories about an unidentified energy source
that is driving the expansion of our universe.
Earth Science: Earth Science programs focus on the effects of natural
and human-induced changes on the global environment through long-term,
space-based observation of Earth's land, oceans, and atmospheric
processes. These observations provide data for refining scientific
models of the Earth system that inform global climate change decision-
making. Highlights of Earth Science accomplishments during this
Administration include:
NASA moved its Earth Observing System series of remote sensing
satellites from planning to operation by launching Terra, the
first satellite in the series, in 2000. Using data from Terra,
scientists will continue to study the Earth's climate,
atmosphere, oceans, land cover, and ecosystems. NASA
scientists have already discovered that the growing season in
Canada and Siberia increased by about one week during the
1980's, perhaps evidence of climate warming due to human
influence.
Researchers continuously tracked the waxing and waning of the
El Nino phenomenon from space for the first time using NASA's
Ocean Topography Experiment mission. Scientists funded by NASA
and NOAA uncovered the mechanics of El Nino and will be better
able to predict how future El Ninos influence rainfall levels
throughout the world.
The Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission, a partnership
between NASA and its sister agency in Japan, made the first
accurate measurements of rainfall over global tropical
regions. By combining these measurements with wind data from
NASA's QuikSCAT mission, scientists improved models for
predicting when and where a hurricane will hit land.
NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer tracked the annual
shrinkage and growth of the areas of depleted ozone over the
Earth's poles. Ozone is a key chemical in the Earth's
atmosphere that blocks dangerous ultraviolet radiation from
the Sun. Researchers believe certain man-made chemicals create
these ``ozone holes''.
Biological and Physical Research: Biological and Physical Research
programs conduct experiments in physics, chemistry and biology to
understand how the unique conditions of the space environment affect
living organisms and fundamental science phenomena. Using this
information, scientists hope to reduce the risks of long-duration human
spaceflight and gain new insights into biology, materials, and processes
that can improve life on Earth. Highlights of Biological and Physical
Research accomplishments during this Administration follow.
A NASA researcher used a novel new state of matter called a
Bose-Einstein condensate to create an ``atom laser'' that
generates an intense beam of coherent atoms. The step from
ordinary atomic beams to atom lasers is analogous to the step
from the light bulb to the optical laser. The atom laser might
replace conventional atomic beams and provide greater
precision in atomic clocks and for tests of the fundamental
laws of physics. Ultimately, it might lead to high-resolution
atom deposition on surfaces for the fabrication of novel
materials and nanostructures.
NASA researchers developed the rotating bioreactor to enable
the growth and study of tissue cultures in three dimensions,
both in space and on the ground. The bioreactor enables tissue
research in an environment that mimics the human body with
much more fidelity than previous research methods. This
technology has allowed a NASA/NIH team to conduct the first
laboratory study of HIV inside human lymphoid tissue, allowed
research on three-dimensional prostate and ovarian cancer
tumors outside the body, and is enabling tissue engineering
applications for cartilage, heart, liver, kidney, and other
tissues for research and commercial development.
NASA-funded scientists achieved new understanding of the
phenomenon of neural plasticity by studying the rapid and
apparently reversible dynamic changes in the brain as it
adjusts to weightlessness in space. This work helped to
reverse a long-held belief that cells in the adult central
nervous system could not grow and adapt.
[[Page 66]]
Continued research to identify the molecular mechanisms
responsible for neural plasticity is expected to improve
astronaut health and safety, and NASA is working with NIH to
improve medical care for balance and postural disorders on
Earth.
Aero-Space Technology: Aero-Space Technology programs work with the
private sector to develop and test new technologies and experimental
vehicles that promise to reduce the cost of access to space, improve
space transportation capabilities, and support revolutionary new
generations of spacecraft. Highlights of Aero-Space Technology
accomplishments during this Administration include:
NASA and industry developed and test-fired two new,
revolutionary rocket engines, the XRS-2000 linear aerospike
engine and the M-1 Fastrac engine. The engines may power
future, low-cost launch vehicles.
NASA and industry completed assembly and conducted ground and
captive carry flight tests of the X-34 experimental test
vehicle. The X-34 is aimed at demonstrating low-cost, fast-
turnaround launch operations.
Human Exploration and Development of Space: Human Exploration and
Development of Space programs provide human access to space on the Space
Shuttle, develop and operate research platforms like the International
Space Station, use human skills and expertise in space to conduct
science and test new technologies, and support the development of space
including new space applications. Highlights of Human Exploration and
Development of Space accomplishments during this Administration include:
NASA moved the International Space Station from a design plan
with no hardware built to development, launch, and operation.
In 1998, the first element of the International Space Station
reached orbit, and in 2000 it received its first three-person
crew, beginning permanent human occupancy. Most of the U.S.
flight elements needed to finish assembly are now at the
launch site.
Through the Space Flight Operations Contract, NASA
successfully consolidated 21 Space Shuttle contracts under a
single prime contractor, reducing the Space Shuttle budget
from $3.7 billion in 1992 to $3.0 billion in 2000, and safely
flew 48 flights.
NASA implemented Space Shuttle upgrades including the Super
Lightweight Tank, the Alternate Turbo-Pump, and the Large-
Throat Main Combustion Chamber to improve Shuttle safety by a
factor of six and increase performance to the Space Station by
more than two-thirds.
National Science Foundation
As the only agency of the Federal Government exclusively devoted to
supporting basic scientific and engineering research and education, NSF
has emerged as a leader and steward of the Nation's science and
engineering enterprise. While NSF represents nearly four percent of
Federal research and development spending, it supports more than half of
the non-medical basic research conducted at academic institutions. NSF
categorizes its investments in three strategic areas: people, ideas, and
tools. Investments in these areas work in concert to support the
agency's mission to maintain U.S. leadership in all aspects of science
and engineering research and education. During this Administration, NSF
funding increased by 61 percent from $2.7 billion in 1993 to $4.4
billion in 2001.
People: NSF is committed to facilitating the creation of a diverse,
internationally competitive and globally-engaged work force of
scientists, engineers and well-prepared citizens. Although only about 20
percent of NSF's annual budget is categorized as an investment in the
``people'' category, in actuality, every dollar NSF spends is an
investment in people. Significant highlights of NSF funding for people
during this Administration include:
36 Nobel Prizes awarded since 1993 recognize work supported by
NSF (13 in Physics, nine in Chemistry, eight in Economics, and
six in Physiology or Medicine). Six of the Nobel Laureates
selected since 1993 began their graduate science careers as
NSF Graduate Research Fellows.
Bill Nye the Science Guy, an NSF-supported television series,
received several Emmy awards including Outstanding Chil
[[Page 67]]
dren's Series. This informal education show promotes increased
comprehension and application of science facts and concepts
among its viewers.
The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation program
significantly increased the number of baccalaureate degrees
earned by students from underrepresented groups. For example,
the Florida/Georgia alliance has tripled the production of
science and engineering baccalaureate degrees earned by
underrepresented minorities in those States from 416 per year
to 1,380 per year.
Ideas: Investments in ideas support cutting edge research that yields
new and important discoveries and promotes the development of new
knowledge and applications. More than half of NSF's annual budget is
categorized as an investment in ideas. This includes support for
individuals and small groups devoted both to disciplinary and cross-
disciplinary research. Also included is funding for centers that address
scientific and engineering questions and research problems that require
long-term, coordinated efforts of many researchers. Significant
highlights of NSF funding for ideas during this Administration follow.
Scientists supported by NSF completed the first DNA genome
sequence of the model plant, Arabidopsis, which will provide
new information about chromosome structure, evolution,
intracellular signaling, and disease resistance in plants.
Among early findings is that this flowering plant has closely
related versions of many human disease genes. That discovery
is already offering clues about why certain human diseases
produce the symptoms they do. It suggests that plants may
eventually be useful not only as a source of novel medicines,
but also as screening tools for testing the potential
usefulness of experimental drugs.
Clinical trials that have significantly improved detection of
early stage cervical cancer were developed after an NSF-funded
researcher demonstrated that fluorescence spectroscopy could
be used to detect pre-cancerous cells.
NSF-funded scientists uncovered the structural basis that
explains a virus' ability to force host cells to manufacture
the virus' own protein. This is important for understanding
retroviruses, which are responsible for causing many cancers
in vertebrates.
NSF-funded scientists have made important contributions to our
understanding of global climate change, including
demonstrating that 1997, 1995, and 1990 were the warmest years
since 1400 A.D. They also have shown that the 1990s were the
warmest decade in the last 1000 years and that human-induced
increases in greenhouse gases appear to be the dominant factor
in the warming seen during the 20th Century.
Tools: Nearly 25 percent of NSF's annual budget is categorized as an
investment in state-of-the-art tools for research and education, such as
instrumentation and equipment, multi-user facilities, digital libraries,
research resources, accelerators, telescopes, research vessels and
aircraft and earthquake simulators. In addition, resources support large
surveys and databases as well as computation and computing
infrastructures for all fields of science, engineering, and education.
Significant highlights of NSF funding for tools during this
Administration include:
The NSF Supercomputer Centers Program, and its Partnerships
for Advanced Computational Infrastructure successor, have led
the way in adding computational modeling to theory and
experiment as means for developing scientific understanding.
These centers have changed the way scientific phenomena are
analyzed, modeled, and visualized.
Two recently completed Gemini Telescopes will be used to help
answer questions about how stars and planets form, the
structure and evolution of the Milky Way and other galaxies,
and the age and evolution of the universe. Images are among
the sharpest ever obtained by a ground-based telescope,
roughly the equivalent of resolving the separation between a
set of auto headlights from 2,000 miles.
[[Page 68]]
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
project began as a collaboration between physicists and
engineers to test the dynamical features of Einstein's theory
of gravitation and to study the properties of intense
gravitational fields from their radiation. Scientists
eventually may be able to identify objects in deep space that
cannot be ``seen'' from energy given off in the form of light,
X-rays or other electromagnetic radiation.
Department of Energy
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic
research in the physical sciences, averaging 40 percent of all Federal
funds in this area over the past decade. The Office supports research at
both universities and DOE's national laboratories across such varied
disciplines as physics, chemistry, materials science, geology,
environmental sciences, biology, applied mathematics, and computer
science. Brief highlights of the Office of Science discoveries during
this Administration follow.
DOE, which began the Human Genome Project, is now finishing
the human genetic map along with its two major partners, NIH
and Britain's Wellcome Trust. DOE researchers completed a
draft sequence of three of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the
human genome. The Human Genome Project has driven significant
public and private developments in sequencing technology. As a
result, the cost of sequencing a single base pair has fallen
by more than a factor of 1,000. It is now practical to
sequence the entire genome of a large number of organisms. To
date, DOE has completed sequencing the genomes of 17 microbes
with the genomes of another 28 microbes in various stages of
completion.
Researchers using the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's 88-inch
cyclotron have extended the periodic table by discovering two
new superheavy elements. International teams of researchers
working at DOE's Fermilab have nearly completed the Standard
Model of particle physics with the discovery of the top quark
and detection of the tau neutrino. These accomplishments bring
the total discoveries by DOE and its predecessor agency to 18
of the periodic table's 27 man-made elements and 11 of the
Standard Model's 12 constituents of matter.
DOE researchers were the first to use positron emission
tomography (PET) to create functional images of the human
brain at work. This has opened up exciting new opportunities
in brain research. DOE has a long history of achievements in
advanced imaging technologies, including the development of
PET.
Three Nobel Prizes in chemistry and two Nobel Prizes in
physics awarded since 1993 recognize work supported by DOE's
Office of Science or its predecessor agencies. Examples of the
prize-winning work include an explanation of how cells store
and release energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate, the
discovery of fullerenes, and the development of neutron
scattering techniques. Fullerenes, cage-like forms of pure
carbon, are the basis of an entirely new area of chemistry and
are playing important roles in nanoscience. Neutron scattering
is an important tool for studying a wide range of economically
and scientifically important materials.
DOE science is improving our understanding of the role of
ecosystem processes in the global carbon cycle. New
measurements from the DOE Ameriflux network have demonstrated
how the exchange of carbon dioxide between vegetation and the
atmosphere varies among seasons, and by region and ecosystem.
They have also shown that some ecosystems previously thought
to be carbon ``sources'' are actually storing carbon dioxide
in the biosphere.
The Office of Science also constructs and operates the Federal
Government's most extensive system of R&D facilities. These include
particle and nuclear physics accelerators, synchrotron light sources,
neutron scattering facilities, supercomputers, and the high-speed
networks that connect scientists and their data. Each year, DOE's
facilities are used by more than 15,000 researchers from universities,
other Government agencies and private industry. Highlights of the Office
of Science's
[[Page 69]]
facility-related accomplishments during this Administration follow.
Since 1993, the Office of Science has completed, on time and
within budget, construction of the Advanced Photon Source, the
Advanced Light Source, the Main Injector at Fermilab, the B-
Factory at Stanford, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, the
Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, and the
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory. The National
Spherical Torus Experiment, a fusion experimental facility,
was completed below cost and ahead of schedule. Construction
of these facilities represents an investment of more than $2.6
billion.
This Administration's Scientific User Facilities Initiatives
in 1996 and 2001 have helped to dramatically increase the
effectiveness and productivity of DOE's facilities. As an
example, DOE's light sources now serve more than twice the
total number of users and four times as many users from the
life sciences as they did in 1993. Structural biologists are
now producing better than seven times as many protein
structures in a year using synchrotron light sources as they
were in 1993.
The Office of Science installed the first supercomputer
available to the civilian research community to exceed the one
teraflop peak performance and supported the development of the
first civilian scientific application to achieve over one
teraflop actual performance.
Tax Incentives
Along with direct spending on R&D, the Federal Government has used tax
preferences to encourage private investment in research. Current law
provides a 20-percent research tax credit for research and
experimentation expenditures above a certain base amount. The Tax Relief
Extension Act of 1999 extended the credit from July 1, 1999, thorough
June 30, 2004. In addition, the 1999 Act increased by one percentage
point the credit rate applicable under the alternative incremental
research credit, and expanded the definition of qualified research to
include research undertaken in Puerto Rico and possessions of the United
States. A permanent tax provision also lets companies deduct, up front,
the costs of certain kinds of research and experimentation, rather than
capitalize these costs. During this Administration, tax credits and
other preferences for R&D increased 133 percent from $3.3 billion in
1993 to $7.7 billion in 2001.