Committee, Presidential Science Advisor discuss science in new administration

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Late last week the US House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing with  Dr. John P. Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), to discuss the direction of science in the new administration

…including reviewing the Administration’s proposed FY 2010 budget for federal research, development, demonstration, and commercial application programs. Specifically, the hearing examined funding for the R&D programs, such as those established by the America COMPETES Act (P.L. 110-69), within the agencies that fall under the Committee’s jurisdiction.

“I’d like to begin today by congratulating Dr. Holdren on his new position, and thank him for the excellent work he has done in planning for aggressive new science and technology policies and budgets. I also want to thank him for taking a strong leadership role on science integrity,” stated Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN). “We just got the budget a week ago, so we are still absorbing the details. But so far I am impressed that President Obama has committed the resources to back up his eloquent words about the importance of science to our society.”

The proposed FY 2010 budget allocates $147.6 billion for research and development (R&D) across all agencies – a $555 million or 0.4 percent increase over the 2009 enacted amount. This figure does not include any of the estimated $21.5 billion in R&D funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Also discussed at the hearing were the administration’s plans to hiking R&D investments to 3% of GDP, slightly above the previous all-time high of 2.9% achieved during the space race in the 50s and 60s.