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 urge the Senate to follow the House in its support of funding for these agencies.
The bill's funding for the research function of these agencies will go a long way in advancing cutting-edge research on our nation's most pressing challenges – developing clean, affordable energy, improving health care, strengthening science and math instruction in our nation's schools, and developing the next generations of advanced computing technologies. Investing in science will also lead to transformational discoveries that will create jobs and economic prosperity for all Americans.
As President Obama and Congress move forward to address the nation's challenges, the discoveries of scientists will be key to developing new solutions, and the funding levels in the House-passed 2009 Omnibus spending bill, as well as predictable, sustainable increases in future funding, will help make that possible.
The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, a coalition of businesses and business organizations, scientific societies, and higher education associations, was founded in 2004 to advocate greater federal investments for basic research in the physical sciences and engineering.