[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14967]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FUNDING IS PRICELESS

  (Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, the cost of basic and applied 
research is priceless. Most Federal Government R&D is by the military 
with a current goal for basic research of 3 percent of the DOD budget.
  The National Science Foundation supports nearly 50 percent of the 
nonmedical basic research at our colleges and universities, including 
the University of Maryland, which comprises only 4 percent of Federal 
R&D spending.
  Federal Government military R&D spending peaked in 1962 and declined 
beginning in 1965 until President Reagan's first term, during which R&D 
rose and surpassed 1962 levels and peaked in 1987. It then declined in 
1993.
  Beginning in fiscal year 1996, bipartisan support in the Congress 
supported increases in R&D above administration requests. Beginning in 
2000 the downward trend was reversed. President Bush's increases have 
been increased further with bipartisan support.
  The United States spends a smaller percentage of our GDP on R&D than 
any other major industrial power. That is the exact equivalent of a 
farmer eating his seed corn. Tomorrow's innovations come from today's 
R&D. America will remain the world's premiere military and economic 
leader only if we increase our spending on R&D.

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