AAAS S&T Forum Opens With Lively R&D Budget Debate

AAAS President Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), welcomed some 600 attendees to a lively debate 22 April, the first day of the 29th Annual AAAS Forum on Science and Technology. (See Dr. Jackson's Forum speech online.) In his opening remarks, U.S. Presidential Science Advisor John H. Marburger III cited President George Bush's science and technology accomplishments. But, Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) accused the current Administration of favoring "vending-machine science," focused on quick, low-cost results. Marburger said that the President's proposed FY 2005 budget would represent a 44-percent increase in federal R&D over the past four-year term. Kei Koizumi, director of the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program, said that the President's proposed FY 2005 budget, combined with his plan to cut the deficit in half within five years, would mean cuts in R&D funding for all but three federal agencies by 2009.

For more information, read related article.

For more information on the forum, including program schedule, see the 29th Annual Forum on Science and Technology Policy website.

Read Daschle's speech in its entirety.

See also Marburger's speech in its entirety.

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