National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007 -- (Senate - June 22, 2006)

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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this amendment to ensure that the Defense Department invests in critical basic research and maintains the workforce it needs to stay globally competitive.

Our military is first in the world because of the quality and training of our personnel and the technological sophistication of our equipment and weaponry. But many of our Nation's best civilian scientific minds in the Defense Department are nearing retirement age, and our uncertain commitment to basic research funding makes it harder to attract a new corps of scientists to do this research.

Our amendment that the Senator from Maine and I are offering includes an additional $5 million for the Department's SMART Scholars Program which is essentially an ROTC program for its civilian scientists. The amendment will more than double the funding level provided last year and provide more than 100 full college scholarships and graduate fellowships in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Our amendment also adds $40 million to the Department's funding of basic research in science and technology to ensure that its investment in the field is maintained and our military technology remains the best in the world. The amendment is supported by more than 60 of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in the Nation.

Advances in military technology often have their source in the work of civilian scientists in Department of Defense laboratories. Unfortunately, a large percentage of these scientists are nearing retirement. Today, nearly one in three DOD civilian engineers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is eligible to retire. In 7 years, 70 percent will be of retirement age.

It is distressing that the number of new doctoral level scientists being produced by our major universities each year has declined by 6 percent since 1997. Many of those who do graduate are ineligible to work on sensitive defense matters, since about a third of all science and engineering doctorate degrees awarded at American universities go to foreign students.

It is unlikely that retiring DOD scientists can be replaced by current private industry employees. About 5,000 science and engineering positions are unfilled in private industry in defense-related fields. The Department of Labor estimates that by 2012, more than 40 percent of jobs in science and engineering occupations will be unfilled.

We face a major math and science challenge in both higher education and in elementary and secondary education. We are tied with Latvia for 28th in the industrial world in math education, and that is far from good enough. We have fallen from 3rd in the world to 15th in producing scientists and engineers. Clearly, we need a new National Defense Education Act of the size and scope passed nearly 50 years ago.

At the very least, however, the legislation before us needs to do more to maintain our military's technological advantage. In 2004, over 100 ``highly rated'' SMART Scholar applications were turned down because of insufficient funding. Our amendment provides enough funds to support every one of those talented young people who want to learn and serve.

Our amendment also deals with the critical need to provide the basic research dollars that enable science and technology graduates and students to pursue their research. Basic research investments by the Defense Department in science and technology a generation ago helped the United States win the Cold War. But funding for basic research has fallen by more than 10 percent in the past decade.

Investing in basic research and attracting the best minds to science and engineering are as important today as they have ever been. Almost every day, you can pick up the paper and see yet another high-performing company setting up an R&D shop in India or China. Those countries get it. They know how important basic research is to their prospects for growth. But this Congress and this President ignore how important it is to invest in our talent and our research capacity.

China now graduates over 2 1/2 times the number of engineers and computer science majors as the United States. We still have an edge in dollars invested, but our average annual investment growth in R&D is far less than China and other countries.

These countries are increasing their government investment in science and technology, but our Federal research investment is stagnating as a share of the U.S. economy. It has plateaued at 1.1 percent of GDP. We are still ahead of most other nations, but they are catching up. In combined Federal and private R&D, the fastest growing countries such as Ireland and Singapore are clearly challenging us.

Yet the President's proposed budget reduces Defense Department basic research, and this authorization bill does little to increase it over last year's appropriation, even though we know we have to increase it.

The Defense Science Board recommends that funding for science and technology reach 3 percent of total defense spending, and the administration and Congress have adopted this goal in the past. But the President's budget cuts science and technology funding by 18.6 percent and falls well short of this goal. The board also recommends that 20 percent of that amount be dedicated to basic research. Again, the administration's budget falls short: basic research accounts for only 12.6 percent of total science and technology funding.

Our leading economic and scientific thinkers are telling us we need to invest in these areas to stay globally competitive. The National Academy of Sciences, the Council on Competitiveness, and others say it is wrong to ignore the need to increase investment in basic research. Nobel prize-winners such as American physicist Steven Chu say that we need to increase Federal investment in long-term basic research because ``there are growing signs that all is not well.''

The Internet, the laser, MRIs, global positioning systems-all came from basic research at the Department of Defense. We can't forget that this type of research leads to the kinds of innovations that can generate millions of jobs and major new economic activity.

Our global competitiveness deserves high priority, and our amendment provides it. The goal is to see that American innovation grows and that we continue to attract and retain the best and the brightest men and women to these critical fields in math and science.

I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this needed amendment to provide more scholarships to math and science students and to increase our Federal commitment to basic research at the Department of Defense.

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