Commentary on the State of the Union Address

by
Fred W. Weingarten
Computing Research Association

January 27, 1998 version

There was good news for science in the president's State of the Union speech delivered January 27. In it, he called for a "21st Century Research Fund for path-breaking scientific inquiry." He said he was requesting the "largest increase in history for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute." (The announcement was expected for NIH.) An intensive and very well financed lobbying campaign has been pushing both Congress and the White House over the last several months, arguing for a doubling of the NIH budget over five years. Most impressive was the seemingly bipartisan ovation that followed the announcement.

The good news for the Next Generation Internet (NGI) is that the president also mentioned this program in the science portion of the speech, although not a clap or cheer was heard at the mention. That could be a negative portent for the program, which is still the subject of considerable confusion and debate on the Hill.

It may also be simply the dramatic timing of the lines. Rhetoric is often more dramatic when building from the general to the specific. The speech led with the big proposal for all science, followed with the applause line, and then followed with the narrower proposal of NGI. Secondly, and this has become common for the administration's recent pronouncements on the Internet, the proposal for NGI was prefaced by a negative note about the need to protect children from "inappropriate material." It's an understandable balance to strike these days in political environment, but it conveys a confusing message not likely to strike enthusiastic response.

Whether the muted response is due to rhetorical or substantive reasons, the message is the same to the proponents of the program. Much work needs to be done to create a clear, positive, and energizing vision of the benefits of information technology R&D in all areas. Better connections need to be made between computing research and the goals that did win extended applause: better health care, better education, continued economic growth, and so on.

This task cannot, even in the best of times, be left to the administration. The example of the NIH lobby shows that even an incredibly popular budget item as this one thrives on strong outside support. The two-year lobbying effort is reportedly budgeted at $4 million, most of which is being contributed by industry. According to science press reports, one biotech firm alone has agreed to kick in $500,000.

The information technology sector, also a large and critically important part of our economy and social welfare, needs to ask itself what an appropriate level of effort it needs to make in order to make its need for R&D funding translate into applause lines in a speech to Congress.