Bush speech raises hopes for education, R&D funding

Washington -- The promise of presidential support for technology funding, combined with two new bills advancing a similar agenda in the U.S. Senate, is generating plenty of enthusiasm within a U.S. technology community withered by years of underfunded programs in education and research. Now the industry must hope that the pros- pect of new funds does not evaporate in the heat of political infighting over a tight federal budget.

"The next step is to get into the legislative details and timing. Everyone is in agreement over the substance," said Lezlee Westine, chief executive of TechNet, a broad association of tech executives tackling public-policy issues.

In his annual State of the Union address last week, President Bush promised to bolster federal spending on R&D, math and science education, and alternative energy technologies when his administration submits its fiscal 2007 budget later this month. Bush also said he will work to ease immigration for tech professionals as well as seek to upgrade and make permanent the R&D tax credit.

The Bush plan echoed two bills with similar goals recently introduced in the U.S. Senate with bipartisan backing.

Specifically, the White House proposed spending about $137 billion for federal R&D programs in 2007, up an estimated $5.9 billion from the previous year. As part of a new competitiveness initiative, Bush said that over the next 10 years he wants to double the total budgets of the National Science Foundation, the Energy Department's Office of Science and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

"In a dynamic world economy, we are seeing new competitors, like China and India," Bush said. "To keep America competitive, one commitment is necessary above all: We must continue to lead the world in human talent and creativity."

The Bush initiative includes $380 million in additional spending on K-12 math and science education. The money would train 70,000 teachers, bring 30,000 industry professionals into the classroom and spawn new elementary and middle school math programs.

A separate Advanced Energy Initiative aims to increase R&D spending for alternative energy sources by 22 percent. "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world," Bush said. "The best way to break this addiction is through technology."

Under the Bush proposal, the government would increase investments by about 10 percent to 40 percent in a variety of energy sources, including coal, nuclear, methanol, solar and wind, as well as battery- and hydrogen-powered cars.

The proposals drew praise from key figures in the electronics industry last week. "The United States can no longer take for granted the competitive edge that our scientific and technological capabilities have provided us in the past," said IEEE-USA president Ralph W. Wyndrum Jr. "The president's remarks indicate that he understands this."

The Bush initiative "focuses on the issues that need to be addressed" to preserve U.S. competitiveness, said George Scalise, president of the Semiconductor Industry Association. The SIA, IEEE-USA and other high-tech groups have lobbied hard for more federal funding for basic research, greater emphasis on math and science education, and tax breaks for industry R&D.

But no one is guessing how the efforts will play out when it comes to specific dollar amounts and programs. Democrats may push for more spending than Republicans want as both sides jockey for an edge with the business community in an election year, observers said. Indeed, the subtext of the plaudits heaped on Bush's speech is that all sides fear the effects of partisan politics as legislators flesh out spending details in an environment of record federal deficits.

How the government finances the new spending could be equally controversial. Bush reiterated in the State of the Union his philosophy of keeping taxes and government intervention to a minimum, reporting that his 2007 budget will reduce or eliminate 140 poorly performing programs.