ASME research task force leaders gain perspective on 2003 federal budget

Francis Dietz
ASME Government Relations

The Council on Engineering's Inter-Council Committee on Federal Research and Development (ICCFRD) convened Feb. 13-14 in Washington to gain perspective on President Bush's fiscal year 2003 budget request.

This is an annual event sponsored by ASME's Board on Government Relations.
The ICCFRD consists of the heads of task forces and committees that examine the research and development budgets for the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense and Energy; the Environmental Protection Agency; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and the National Science Foundation.

Task force leaders take the information gathered from high-level budget briefings and meetings with agency officials back to their task forces for use in preparing congressional testimony.

Committee members heard first from David Trinkle, program examiner for Science and Space Programs in the Office of Management and Budget. Trinkle explained the priorities in the president's budget and painted a rosy picture of research and development funding.

He noted that the United States spends more, from combined federal and private-sector funds, than the rest of the G-7 nations combined, a total of nearly $250 billion in 1999, the latest figures available.

The budget request for fiscal year 2003 includes $112 billion for federal research and development — the highest level ever. Most of the increase, however, will go toward defense research and for research at the National Institutes of Health.

Trinkle explained that the defense research increase fits two of the president's priorities — winning the war on terrorism and protecting Americans at home. Completing the goal of doubling the budget for the National Institutes of Health within five years also fulfills a campaign promise from 2000.

Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J. (left), speaks with Michael Reishman, chair of the Inter-Council Committee on Federal Research and Development.

 

Trinkle was followed by Kei Koizumi, director of R&D Budget and Policy Programs at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Koizumi delved into greater detail about the budget request for individual agencies, noting that the R&D budgets for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Interior and Transportation would be decreased in fiscal 2003 under the president's plan.

In addition, the budget for defense science and technology accounts — those most closely watched by ASME — would decrease while the overall DOD budget would get a huge boost.

Bill Bonvillian, legislative director and chief counsel for Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and David Goldston, staff director for the House Science Committee, both explained to the group the importance of engineers and scientists getting involved in the federal R&D budget process.

That was echoed later by Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., who explained that his colleagues have no problem expressing their views on economic policy or energy policy, even though their educational backgrounds are not in those fields.

When the subject is engineering and science, however, Holt, a physicist, said he has found that his colleagues are more likely to say that is not their field of expertise. That, he said, is where engineers and scientists can play an important role.

Members of Congress, Holt said, are very much in need of expertise in technology-related issues. Communicating with their own members of Congress and the Senate is important to their understanding of what the proper role of the federal government in research and development should be, Holt said.

Following the briefings, ICCFRD members and ASME staff fanned out to their agencies of interest to meet with senior-level officials regarding their budget requests.

Several members of the Board on Government Relations also met with Presidential Science Advisor John Marburger to discuss the fiscal year 2003 budget and ways that ASME can better assist his office in promoting the importance of engineering research in the federal government.

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