[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 2 (Monday, January 18, 1993)]
[Pages 49-50]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to Congressional Leaders on Science and Technology Policy

 January 15, 1993

Dear Mr. Speaker:  (Dear Mr. President:)

    My Administration has accelerated our national investment in 
America's future through increased support for science and technology. 
Had the Congress fully enacted my FY 1993 budget, investments in applied 
civilian R&D would have increased by 49 percent over the past 4 years. 
My Administration also has revitalized the Federal Government's ability 
to deal with science and technology. These actions included establishing 
the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to insure 
high-level input from the private sector and restructuring the Federal 
Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology to fa- 

[[Page 50]]

cilitate crosscutting multiagency R&D programs. Among these programs 
intended to harness science and technology to meet 21st century needs 
are Presidential initiatives on biotechnology, advanced materials, 
information technologies, and manufacturing.

    To strengthen the educational foundations for growth, I convened the 
1989 Education Summit and in 1991 transmitted to the Congress the 
AMERICA 2000 Excellence in Education Act to facilitate the educational 
reform needed to reach the National Education Goals set forth by the 
Summit. As part of this reform, my Administration has developed a 
strategic plan for education in mathematics, science, engineering, and 
technology that involves the coordinated efforts of 16 Federal agencies.
    A particular strength of America's science and technology effort in 
my Administration has been its international leadership. The superiority 
of U.S. science and technology was manifested in the weapons systems 
that performed so admirably in Desert Storm, allowing us to win the war 
with minimal loss of life. As we restructure our military systems to 
face the greatly altered national security threats of the future, we 
must maintain an active and inventive program of defense R&D. Through 
our Global Change research program and a vigorous program of domestic 
initiatives, ranging from the revised Clean Air Act to my decision to 
accelerate the phaseout of the chemicals that degrade the Earth's ozone 
layer, we also have been an international leader in confronting the 
problems of the global environment. Under my Administration, the United 
States has provided more support for research on Global Change than all 
other countries put together--research that is providing a scientific 
basis for environmentally and economically sound stewardship of the 
Earth. Finally, my Administration has extended the hand of cooperation 
in science and technology to many nations, forging new bilateral and 
multilateral agreements and seeking a truly international basis for 
proceeding with increasingly large and complex megaprojects in science 
that have the potential to produce fundamental knowledge of benefit to 
all humanity.
    Despite the strength and overall health of our American science and 
technology enterprise, I must call the attention of the Congress to a 
number of areas of concern for the future. My Council of Advisors on 
Science and Technology has recently reported on signs of stress in our 
universities. Our precollege educational system still has far to go to 
meet our National Education Goals and to adequately prepare our work 
force and our citizens for the 21st century. Private sector investment 
in R&D is stagnating even as the competitive pressures of a global 
economy accelerate. In addition, the relationships between the critical 
elements of our science and technology enterprise--universities, private 
industry, and the Federal Government--are changing rapidly, even as the 
nature of science and technology itself is changing.
    These considerations suggest that it is time to rethink our national 
policies for science and technology: to reexamine the role and the 
rationale for Federal support, to reconsider the structure of the 
Nation's R&D capacity, and to revitalize the mechanisms and educational 
institutions that support that capacity. These ideas as well as a review 
of selected science and technology policy initiatives in my 
Administration are described in the Biennial Report of the Office of 
Science and Technology Policy, which accompanies this Report.
    Sincerely,
                                                   George Bush

Note: Identical letters were sent to Thomas S. Foley, Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, and Dan Quayle, President of the Senate.