The following statement was adopted at the 333rd meeting of the National Science Board on December 14, 1995. The National Science Board is the governing body of the National Science Foundation.
For half a century, a national consensus -- firmly founded and widely shared -- has affirmed that investment in research and education in science and engineering is an investment in America's future. Today we face the prospect of an unprecedented decline in Federal support for civilian science and engineering. Long term budget constraints could have a serious impact on our Nation's future well-being and the life and health of all its citizens. The consequences for our technological and economic leadership as we move into the twenty-first century could be devastating.
During the Second World War, our leaders turned to science and technology to assure the security and defense of our country. Since then, a consistent and bipartisan policy of Federal investment in research and education for civilian needs has built a research and education enterprise of unparalleled scope and quality. This policy has directly contributed to our economic growth, the productive use and husbanding of our resources, and the health and well being of our people. The new ideas, products, and processes resulting from this national investment are responsible for much that we take for granted today: the information super highway, television sets and transistors, miracle drugs and microsurgery, and automated teller machines, composite materials, and spectacular agricultural productivity. These innovations illustrate one inescapable fact: science and technology are uniquely important to our Nation's future.
The challenge confronting the Nation today is not only to reduce Federal spending, necessary as that is. It is, also, to undergird the strength of those industries in which we are still world leaders, like computers, telecommunication, chemicals, aerospace, and biotechnology, and to assure our readiness to capitalize on new scientific discoveries, innovative processes, and emerging technologies. These industries and others like them are the foundation of our national prosperity. Scientific and technical education and a vigorous research enterprise are critical for positioning ourselves to meet future challenges.
The National Science Board urges that decisions on Federal R&D budgets be framed with explicit attention to the fundamental importance of US leadership in research, for the economy and for the well being of the Nation. The Board pledges continuing commitment to strong support of our vital national scientific capacity. The Board will work with Congress, the Administration, business and civic leaders, and the public, to raise awareness of the critical need to make and sustain a strong investment in science for our future.