CLINTON PUSHES FOR R&D JUMP

Abstract

President Clinton has finally made the kind of budget proposal for fiscal 2001 that scientists and engineers have been hoping for. Research and development spending would rise more than 3%, to $85.3 billion, compared with the current fiscal year, if Congress goes along with the Administration's request, and funding for basic research would rise a huge 6.8%, to $20.3 billion. White House science adviser Neal F. Lane is obviously pleased at the size of the proposed increase. The budget plots a bold course of strategic growth and prosperity through discovery, Lane says. substantially increases the university-based research that will ensure a strong workforce in the 21st century. It also maintains the U.S. position as the world leader in science and technology. Clinton continued his practice of pulling together the civilian R&D funds from federal agencies and calling it the 21st Century Research Fund. Totaling $42.9 billion, this fund would rise $2.9 billion and is ...