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President Joe Biden just signed landmark science legislation into law. The legislation, called the Chips and Science Act, reauthorizes critical U.S. research agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The bill also authorizes tens of billions in new investment in federal research and technology over the coming years.
But while the new law establishes goals for new investment, it doesn’t actually provide new funds for most of the new agency programs in the bill. With the legislation now the law of the land, it’s crucial that lawmakers match their targeted – or authorized – investment in federal research and development with real dollars that fund scientists who are working to achieve breakthroughs right here in the United States. Congress has the opportunity to do just that as it continues the annual appropriations process to fund the government for the next fiscal year. In fact, both houses of Congress are currently working to reach agreement on government funding for the next fiscal year.
The need for added investment is clear and urgent. U.S. scientific leadership is being challenged on a global stage in ways not seen in decades. Other nations are vaulting ahead in research and development investment, laying the groundwork for global competitors to overtake the U.S. as the world’s scientific powerhouse.
We should be greatly concerned about that prospect. There’s a strong link between scientific leadership, innovation, and economic preeminence and for decades the U.S. has been the world’s leading economy thanks in no small part to our extraordinary federal research enterprise. Along the way, such research led to the creation of vital innovations such as GPS, lithium-ion batteries, and life-saving medicines. It’s even helped dawn entirely new sectors of the global economy such as the Internet.
Who sparks these and other innovations has a profound role in shaping the standards and values embedded in them. Looking into the frontier sectors of the future – such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and clean energy – there’s good reason to think that the U.S. leading development of the technologies will become more even more crucial. It’s easy to see why it’s critical that artificial intelligence or biotechnologies respect basic values such as democracy and the right to privacy.
That, in part, is what has motivated Congress to pass landmark legislation to bolster U.S. science. But while the new legislation could prove a watershed moment for U.S. science leadership, it is not enough on its own. We’ve been here before: In 2007, Congress authorized tens of billions of dollars of new investments in federal research only to fail to deliver on funding – at great cost to American innovation. The costs of continuing to fail to make needed investments through the appropriations process are unacceptable. The CHIPS Act must be step one in a process that ultimately includes Congress delivering the funding that will accomplish the goals of the legislation.
We cannot afford the alternative. Boosting investment in federal research will be a complex, years-long process to make up for lost time. But as society faces a wide array of big, intractable challenges that are worthy of investment to solve. As Congress continues its appropriations process, lawmakers should prioritize research that will help promote health, enhance quality of health, and fuel broadly shared prosperity and economic growth.
