As Congress considers the fiscal 2005 federal budget proposed by President Bush last week, our elected representatives face difficult choices among many competing priorities. One of the most important priorities, essential to ensuring America’s future economic vitality, is sustaining the nation’s commitment to research and development in science and technology.
Federal support for R&D drives a cycle of innovation that fuels the economy. Since World War II, tens of millions of jobs have resulted from government-sponsored scientific breakthroughs that industry developed into world-changing technologies such as today’s personal computers and the Internet. These commercial advances accounted for more than one-third of United States economic growth during the late 1990s, and they continue to stimulate renewed growth today.
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