International Friction and Cooperation in High-Technology Development and Trade Papers and Proceedings (1997) / Chapter Skim
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The End of the Endless Frontier
The End of the Endless Frontier
Pages 16-24
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From page 16... ...
technology policy and in promoting legislation to implement that vision from several key positions: as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and as chair of its Acquisition and Technology Subcommittee, from his position as senior Senate Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee, and from his leadership position in the Democratic Party in the Senate. Senator Bingaman was an early supporter of SEMATECH, the semiconductor manufacturing consortium and the principal author of legislation creating the Technology Reinvestment Program, including partnerships to create new dualuse technologies.
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From page 17... ...
The budget resolutions, which were passed last week and the week before, make many assumptions about federal programs, but the only binding assumption that affects civilian applied research is the total that these budget resolutions contain for this large category called domestic discretionary spending. For fiscal year 1995, the total for domestic discretionary spending is approximately $257 billion.
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From page 18... ...
The governments of our major economic rivals, Japan and Germany, recognize the importance of civilian research investments. In data compiled by the National Science Foundation, comparing investments by the United States, Germany, and Japan in 1992, the German government invested 0.9 percent of their gross domestic product in civilian research.
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From page 19... ...
Some examples were the high-performance computing and communications initiative to improve manufacturing and performance of materials, an expanded program in biotechnology research, the establishment of the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium which was funded jointly by industry and government for a four-year period, a significant increase in the aeronautics research budget, and the establishment of seven regional manufacturing technology centers for the distribution of modern manufacturing tools and know-how.
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From page 20... ...
As David S anger pointed out in an article in the Business Section of The New York Times on May 23, 1995: "Such arguments underscore the sharp difference in the way technology and trade policy is dealt with in Washington and in the capitals of its major economic competitors, where trade is considered national security and picking winners and losers is a phrase with no political resonance." The overall budget prospects facing civilian research in United States in the years ahead demonstrate just how high a political resonance this issue has today within at least part of our political spectrum. Because I do not believe that this is a policy that makes sense for our nation, I led an effort during the Senate debate last week to make spending on research and technology and related trade promotion and trade law enforcement programs a high priority in allocating funds over the next seven years.
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From page 21... ...
Because I believe the scientific and technological frontier is still endless and because I do not want to risk condemning our children and grandchildren to a less prosperous, less healthy, less secure future, I intend to continue fighting for federal research investments, even as we pursue a balanced federal budget. I hope that we can restore bipartisan support for these programs before the damage is irreversible, and I fear that this may take years to achieve.
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From page 22... ...
What are your views of the tax credit as an appropriate incentive for private research and development as opposed to programs that hand out dollars for specific products in research areas? JEFF BINGAMAN: I favor making the research and development tax credit permanent.
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From page 23... ...
PARTICIPANT: To follow up on exactly this question, somewhere between an investment tax credit and larger projects, such as SEMATECH, are there programs in the small and medium-sized firm sector that might in turn provide a political constituency that would seem more congenial to the current congressional majority? JEFF BINGAMAN: I believe that there are some programs that do have some significant participation by small and medium-sized firms.
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From page 24... ...
Therefore, I do not believe that there is a shortage of opportunity or a shortage of participation by small and medium-sized firms. For some reason it has not coalesced as a political force or taken part in these debates so far.
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