Mmm Camments

Number 51 Recently, President Reagan signed a bill to reduce federal spending over the next three years by $130 billion. Almost as soon as the ink dried, Administration officials announced that further reductions totaling about $75 billion were needed to erase the federal budget deficit by 1984. Subsequently, it became evident that even that was not enough. It is clear that these budget plans will adversely affect many research and development (R&D) programs that depend on federal support. In the past, I've expressed concern about support for scientific research. l-s As early as 1973, I discussed the need for a lobby to advance the interests of research scientists. 1 More recently, I concentrated on how we might prove the value of basic researches These issues are even more compelling today, in view of the planned reductions in R&D funding. In this essay, I'll try to report in detail on the estimated impact of R&D on the American economy—its contributions to the US gross national product (GNP) and industrial productivity. Unfortunately , it is a vital subject for which there are only limited, but still important , data available. R&D is an umbrella term covering three separate activities-basic research , applied research, and development. The National Science Foundation (NSF) defines basic research as " knowledge or understan&lng of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and observable facts without specific ap-December 21,1981 placations.. .in mind. ' " rApplied research determines " the means by which a recognized and specific need may be met,' " 1 according to NSF. Finafly, NSF says development is concerned with the " production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods, including design and development of prototypes and processes.' " f Table 1 shows the federal obligations to R&D at NSF and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for fiscal years 1979-1982. The government's 1980 fiscal year (FY), for example, started on Oc-tober 1, 1979, and ended on September 30, 1980. The data in Table 1 represent the total amounts committed for orders, contracts, and services by NSF and NIH. They take into account the cutbacks and amendments proposed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for FY 1981. However, they do not reflect Congress' later decision to restore the funds earmarked for elimination from NIH's 1981 budget. Also, the figures reported for 1982 should be read as " lower liiit " amounts, since the budget for that …