IP: Democratic Press Release on Science and the Budget

[David Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

Science & Technology    June 5, 1997
NEWS
        House Science Committee, Democratic Membership
Mail address:                           Office Location:
2320 Rayburn House Office Building      822 O'Neill House Office Building
Washington, DC  20515                   fax:  202/225-3895
202/225-6375                    staff contact:  Bill Smith, 202/225-4439
           http://www.house.gov/science_democrats/welcome.htm




Brown Analysis of Budget Agreement Shows R&D Drops 16%




George E. Brown, Jr. (D-CA), ranking Democrat on the House Science
Committee, released a staff analysis of the budget deal negotiated
between the President and Republican leaders in the House and Senate.
That analysis shows overall R&D (civilian and defense) declining by 2%
in FY1998 and by 16% in real terms by 2002 compared to FY1997 levels.
This is in stark contrast to the Science Committee's authorized 3%
annual increases in civilian R&D programs, the Brown Investment Budget
proposal which called for 5% annual increases, and Senator Gramm's call
for 7% annual increases.


Brown commented, "Despite the greater activity of the science community
in Washington on science policy questions, neither the President nor
Republican Congressional leaders acted to protect R&D programs in the
budget agreement.  I think this shows that the community needs to
redouble its efforts at public education to guarantee that the next
cycle of budgeting does a better job of protecting these investments
than this one has."


Details of the Brown analysis, complete with a functional breakdown of
the budget and charts, are available at our website.  The final budget
agreement is scheduled for consideration in the House today.




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