April 19, 2013 The Honorable Lamar Smith The Honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson Chairman Ranking Member House Committee on Science, Space House Committee on Science, Space and Technology and Technology 2321 Rayburn Office Building 2312 Rayburn Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman Smith a

www.innovationtaskforce.org 202-302-5392 Agilent Technologies Alliance for Science & Technology Research in America American Astronomical Society American Chemical Society American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering American Mathematical Society American Physical Society American Society for Engineering E

 The Task Force on American Innovation urges that as White House and congressional leaders work to reduce the nation's deficit,  they also sustain investments in science and engineering research, which are key to the nation's national competitiveness and economic prosperity. 

 A group of businesses and business associations sent a letter to leaders of the Senate on March 9 urging them to give funding priority in the FY11 continuing resolution to physical science and engineering research and STEM education.

The Task Force on American Innovation – a coalition of major high-tech corporations, universities and scientific societies – strongly supports reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act this year and encourages bipartisan backing for this effort. When the COMPETES Act was enacted in 2007, it provided the nation with a broad blueprint for strengthening the pillars of American innovation and competitiveness: increasing the nation’s commitment to basic research, strengthening STEM education, and fostering a business environment to drive innovation.

The Task Force on American Innovation – a coalition of major high-tech corporations, universities and scientific societies – strongly supports House approval of H.R. 5116, the reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act. The COMPETES Act, enacted in 2007, provided the nation with a broad blueprint for strengthening the pillars of American innovation and competitiveness: increasing the nation’s commitment to basic research, strengthening STEM education, and fostering a business environment to drive innovation..

The bipartisan America COMPETES Act enacted in 2007 has played and continues to play a crucial role in outlining our nation’s path forward in the global economy by fostering innovation and keeping the United States competitive. Investments in research and a highly educated workforce, which the America COMPETES Act prescribes, are essential to continued success in making scientific discoveries and developing cuttingedge technologies. The institutions of higher education listed below write to express our strong support for reauthorizing the America COMPETES Act this year..

On behalf of our associations, which together represent virtually all major academic research institutions and the broader higher education community, we write to encourage favorable consideration and swift passage of legislation to reauthorize the America COMPETES Act. More specifically, we encourage bipartisan support for a five-year reauthorization bill that builds upon the doubling path set forward by the original 2007 COMPETES Act to ensure sustained, long-term funding for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology..

The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, representing America’s business, academic and scientific communities, commends the House leadership, particularly Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Appropriations Chairman David Obey, for including crucial scientific investments in the FY09 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. Specifically, we applaud the bill’s continued support for core research programs at the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology..

We commend Congress and President Obama for their inclusion of critical investments in basic research and scientific infrastructure in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These investments will create thousands of jobs in the short term, but even more importantly, they will help create long-term economic growth and prosperity..

As leaders of American business, science and higher education, we commend you for your leadership on the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The research and education investments in the Act provide immediate relief for America’s struggling workers and families by creating new jobs and stimulating new economic activity while laying a strong foundation for future American prosperity..

AAAS & AAU Science Advisor Letter to the Presidential Candidates Join with in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Association of American Universities (AAU) in urging the next President of the United States to appoint a Science Advisor before taking office. The American Ass

AAU's 10 Questions for the Presidential Candidates..

^{As the 110th Congress draws to a close, America’s leading businesses, scientific organizations, and universities urge you to fully fund the America COMPETES Act in FY 2009. This includes adjusting funding levels in any Continuing Resolution (CR) to bolster U.S. competitiveness by increasing funding for basic research at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)..}

A coalition of nearly a dozen industry and university leaders yesterday called upon Congress and the Administration to repair some of the damage caused by their failure to fund their respective competitiveness and innovation initiatives in the FY2008 appropriations process. In meetings today with Members of Congress and the Administration, the coalition pushed for inclusion in the FY2008 supplemental appropriations bill $500 million for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to avert likely layoffs of science and technology workers and prevent the loss of research capacity and facilities..

On behalf of the nation’s business, higher education, and scientific and engineering communities, we commend the House and Senate for adopting comprehensive legislation to advance the nation’s competitiveness and innovative capacity. We are particularly encouraged that every measure has received strong bipartisan support in both bodies. These measures would help maintain America’s global leadership in science, mathematics, and engineering, and help keep our economy strong and our nation secure..

On behalf of the business, research university, and science and engineering communities, we urge you to fund, in Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08), the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science at $4.4 billion, the National ScienceFoundation (NSF) at $6.43 billion, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Scientific andTechnical Research and Services (STRS) at $504 million, all of which are consistent with the priorities in the House and Senate Budget Resolutions and the President’s FY08 request..

On behalf of the business, research university, and science and engineering communities, we urge you to fund, in Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08), the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science at $4.4 billion, which is consistent with the priorities in the House and Senate Budget Resolutions and the President’s FY08 request. Full Funding for FY08 would signal that the United States values basic research as a key component of an innovation economy and that Congress remains committed to strengthening U.S. competitiveness in today’s global economy..

The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation (www.futureofinnovation.org), joined by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN), Ambassador David Abshire, President and CEO of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, and Larry Wortzel, Chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, today urged President Bush to include funding for basic research performed by the Department of Defense in his American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) next year..

On behalf of the Association of American Universities (AAU), representing 60 leading public and private research universities in the United States, I write to thank you for your support of basic research essential to our nation’s future competitiveness. Specifically, we commend you and the Appropriations Committee for fully funding the President’s American Competitiveness Initiative, which makes important investments in the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)..

On behalf of the higher education community, we write to commend you for recent actions by the House that support the additional research investments proposed by President Bush in his American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI). Specifically, we commend the House for providing all of the requested FY07 ACI funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology..

The nation’s business, scientific, and research university communities applaud today’s decision by the House Appropriations Committee to fully fund the investments in research in the physical sciences and engineering proposed by President Bush in his American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI). Today’s action advances the President’s FY2007 budget requests for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The House has already approved the funds he requested for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science..

List of Competitiveness, Innovation, S&E Workforce and STEM Education Major Reports, Books and Activities

We commend the House Appropriations Committee and in particular Energy and Water Subcommittee Chair David Hobson (R-OH) and Ranking Member Peter Visclosky (D-IN), on taking the first big step toward enactment of the President’s American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) – approval of the President’s proposed FY07 investment in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science..

The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, on behalf of the nation’s business, research university, and scientific communities, commends Representatives Joe Schwarz (R-MI), Michael T. McCaul (R-TX), and other members of the House Science Committee, including Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), for introducing legislation today that would strengthen the nation’s competitiveness by improving science and math education and encouraging careers in science-related fields..

ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Barry Toiv May 11, 2006 202-408-7500, barry_toiv@aau.edu RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES PRAISE HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE ON INTRODUCTION OF COMPETITIVENESS LEGISLATION Following is a statement by John Vaughn, Interim President of the Association of American Unive

On behalf of the business, research-university, and scientific communities, the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation thanks 70 U.S. Senators and 139 House Members for their strong expression of support for President Bush’s proposed FY2007 investment in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. We particularly thank Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Representatives Judy Biggert (R-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) for coordinating these efforts..

The Association of American Universities urges Congress to approve the research investments proposed by President Bush in his American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) and his FY 2007 budget. AAU believes this would be a critical first step toward addressing the agenda outlined in the National Academies report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" and by other recent reports on competitiveness, such as AAU’s National Defense Education and Innovation Initiative..

Briefing by the National Science Foundation Division of Science Resources in March 2006 entitled Science & Engineering Indicators 2006

As a nation, we are the best in the world at invention and scientific exploration. We are the very icons of risk-taking, social progress and economic success. At the University of Michigan alone, our scientists have discovered the genes for cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease, and our alumni are responsible for the iPod and Google. But we have a problem. Many of you here have seen the latest studies and publicized their ominous findings. The best minds in our country – business leaders like Norm Augustine of Lockheed Martin and Rick Wagoner of GM, university presidents like Shirley Tilghman of Princeton and John Hennessy of Stanford – are profoundly concerned that we are at risk as a nation if we do not commit to more innovation, more math and science, and more basic research..

On behalf of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization of 60 leading public and private research universities in the United States, I write to thank you for introducing the Right TRACK (The Right Time to Reinvest in America's Competitiveness) Act of 2006 and to express our strong support for the goals of this important legislation..

The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation applauds Senators Alexander, Bingaman, Domenici, and Mikulski for introducing the PACE Acts, a legislative package that responds to the landmark report by the National Academies, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm." We particularly support their efforts to enhance the nation’s investment in basic, university-based research. PACE stands for Protecting America’s Competitive Edge, and this is exactly what we need to accomplish..

The Association of American Universities applauds Senators Ensign and Lieberman for their introduction of the National Innovation Act of 2005. This legislation responds directly to the outstanding set of recommendations made by the Council on Competitiveness for much-needed improvements in our nation’s ability to innovate and compete globally..

A Section-by-Section Analysis of the National Innovation Act of 2005

 We are writing to ask you to cosponsor bipartisan legislation we plan to introduce soon that will help meet the challenge of ensuring America's competitiveness in the 21st Century.  The "National Innovation Act of 2005" (NIA) aims to make the necessary improvements in research, education of science and technology talent, and innovation infrastructure to allow the United States to maintain the global leadership it achieved in the last century..   

 This legislation responds to the recommendations contained in the National Innovation Initiative Report published by the Council on Competitiveness. In responding to the report, this legislation focuses on three primary areas of importance to maintaining and improving United States' innovation in the 21st Century: (1) research investment, (2) increasing science and technology talent, and (3) developing an innovation infrastructure..

The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation thanks Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues for issuing "The Innovation Agenda: A Commitment to Competitiveness to Keep America #1." It contains important ideas for promoting American innovation, including a significant increase in federal support for basic university-based research. Such research produces discoveries vital to our economic and national security and helps to educate the next generation of scientists and engineers..

The report issued today by the Center for Strategic and International Studies makes clear that our national security is being undermined by years of gradually declining investment in basic research in the physical sciences and engineering by the Department of Defense and other federal agencies..

Basic research fuels innovation; innovation produces national strength. Since the 1940s, spending on scientific research has been crucial for U.S. national security. Our investment in science and technology underpins America’s current military and economic strength. The problem is that funding levels that were adequate in the past are now insufficient. A series of interconnected changes are reshaping the international environment in ways that challenge U.S leadership..

Fifteen of our country's most prominent business organizations have joined together to express our deep concern about the United States' ability to sustain its scientific and technological superiority through this decade and beyond. To maintain our country's competitiveness in the 21st century, we must cultivate the skilled scientists and engineers needed to create tomorrow's innovations. Our goal is to double the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates with bachelor’s degrees by 2015..

AAU and its research university members commend these business organizations, which represent businesses of all sizes and from all sectors of our economy, for urging a national initiative of public awareness and investment aimed at restoring U.S. scientific and technological capacity. No group is more important than the business community in making the case to the American public and its leaders that the United States must do far more to attract U.S. students to careers in science, mathematics, and engineering and to reinvest in the basic research that underlies the nation’s innovation system..

Saying our "scientific and technical capacity is beginning to atrophy even as other nations are developing their own human capital," 15 leading business organizations called today for doubling the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates by the year 2015. "The critical situation in American innovation threatens to undermine our standard of living at home and our leadership in the world," said John J. Castellani, President of Business Roundtable, which organized the business groups in this effort. "We cannot wait for another Sputnik to propel our energy forward in this area..

Key federal science agencies would receive a needed boost under Fiscal Year 2006 funding legislation passed by the House Appropriations Committee on June 7, according to the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, a coalition of high-tech companies, business organizations, and scientific and higher education associations (http://www.futureofinnovation.org). The Task Force praised the primary author of the bill, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), who chairs the Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice, and Commerce, as well as the ranking member of the panel, Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), for their support of the federal research enterprise..

The nation’s research universities commend Reps. Frank Wolf, Sherwood Boehlert, and Vernon Ehlers for introducing the Math and Science Incentive Act of 2005. There is no more important priority for strengthening our economy and raising living standards than to maintain our nation’s leadership in research and innovation..

The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, a coalition of high-tech industry, scientific societies, and higher education associations, warned today that the United States is in danger of losing its leadership role in science and innovation, a position it has held with a firm grip since the end of World War II. Business and academic leaders, speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. today, identified the weakening federal commitment to invest in science and research as a root cause of the problem – and as a necessary part of the solution..

The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation today praised the discussion in the Presidential campaign about the future of American science and proposed a set of benchmarks by which to consider the candidates’ positions and proposals regarding the nation’s investment in research. The Task Force, made up of members of the business, higher education, and scientific communities, was formed earlier this year to advocate greater federal investment in research in the physical sciences and engineering..

The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation issued the following statement today on House passage of the FY05 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill, which contains a significant increase in funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The bill provides an additional $100 million over the FY04 funding level. The Administration had proposed a $68 million cut..

The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation issued the following statement on the increase in key basic (6.1) and applied (6.2) defense research programs approved by the House of Representatives on Tuesday, June 22, as part of the FY05 defense appropriations bill. The bill provides $6.14 billion for these research programs, an increase of more than $300 million over FY04. The Administration proposed a $600 million cut in the programs..

Leaders from the technology industry and academia today unveiled an advocacy campaign to illustrate the importance of basic research to the future of American innovation, economic growth and job creation. The initiative, targeted at policy makers and the public, will seek to reverse a decline in federal investment in basic research in the physical sciences and engineering that puts at risk the development of new technologies, new industries, and high-value jobs..

Presentation by James Siedow, Duke University, at the AAU Council on Federal Relations meeting on January 13, 2004..