TFAI released the following statement on COVID-19 Stimulus:
2020-04-02-TFAI-COVID-19The full-text of the statement is below:
Washington, DC—The Task Force on American Innovation (TFAI) – a coalition of companies, business and university associations, and professional societies that support sustained and robust federal investment in basic science research – issued the following statement as Congress considers legislation to deal with the COVID-19 crisis:
“The Task Force on American Innovation salutes Congress as it works diligently to develop and pass stimulus packages that will help our nation’s economy recover from the impact of COVID-19. While Congress leads our country through this time of great need, we urge Congressional leaders to include significant funding for the basic research agencies in any future stimulus, as well as through the regular FY21 appropriations process.
“Our coalition focuses on federal funding for the critical science, technology and engineering research, as well as the related workforce development, that will play a continuing role in understanding the spread and effective treatment of COVID-19 and the prevention of future pandemics.
“The lasting impacts of this world-wide disruption touch all sectors of our economy. Going forward, it will be increasingly important for the federal government to invest in the scientific research enterprise across the nation, including building the research infrastructure and developing the STEM workforce necessary to accelerate discoveries to help prevent future pandemics and ensure economic prosperity.
“Congress can and should focus on efforts to support the fight against coronavirus and short-term economic stimulus while also advancing consistent and reliable long-term funding across the broad range of programs and public-private partnerships that are critical to our nation’s health, economic vitality, and security and rely on federal appropriations every year. Again, we applaud the strong and bipartisan leadership from Congress during this time of national crisis, and we look forward to seeing the same resolute leadership as Congress provides long-term certainty through the regular appropriations process this year.”