The Task Force on American Innovation (TFAI) – an alliance of industry, scientific societies, and university organizations – issued the following statement on President Donald J. Trump’s Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Proposal:
TFAI Statement on President Trump's FY20 Budget Proposal-FINALThe full text of the statement is below:
Washington, DC – The Task Force on American Innovation (TFAI) – a coalition of companies, university associations, and professional societies that support sustained and robust federal investment in scientific and engineering research – issued the following statement on the release of President Trump’s fiscal year 2020 (FY20) budget proposal:
America must prioritize investments in scientific and engineering research to remain a world leader in innovation. TFAI recognizes the Administration’s proposed increases in its FY20 budget request aimed at promoting, advancing and deploying technology within some areas of research and development (R&D). However, the budget request does not provide robust funding across all areas of R&D.
As drafted, President Trump’s FY20 budget proposal provides increased funding for DOD Research, Development, Test and Evaluation while simultaneously cutting support for Defense Science & Technology, including DOD’s basic research programs that are the foundation of the national security innovation pipeline. Moreover, the President’s budget request does not adequately fund many critical agencies, including DOE Office of Science, ARPA-E, NSF, NASA and NIST. These vital agencies support and promote America’s economy, workforce, national security and global competitiveness.
On March 6, 2019 the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a full Committee hearing titled, “Maintaining U.S. Leadership in Science and Technology.” “According to data reported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. now ranks 11th in the world in research intensity,” Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said in her opening statement. “We are behind several countries in R&D as a share of GDP. China has surpassed us in total research publication output and East Asian countries as a group have surpassed us in patents. In total number of R&D dollars invested, the U.S. was still leading in 2016, which is the latest data NSF has reported, but China likely surpassed us last year. It has also been a given that the U.S. leads in investments in fundamental research at our universities and national labs, but we are close to dropping out of the top 10 even in basic research investments.”
TFAI encourages Congress to secure and protect America’s leadership in innovation, energy, security, and national defense by advancing a bipartisan agreement that raises the budget caps for discretionary spending and passing the highest possible funding levels for scientific and engineering research.