Rep. David Price (D-NC)
Progress on the Innovation Agenda

David Price has represented North Carolina's Research Triangle area for nearly twenty years. He currently serves on the House Appropriations Committee and is chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. He is also a member of the Appropriations subcommittees for Commerce, Justice and Science and for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. Price was the House sponsor of legislation establishing the NSF’s Advanced Technical Education program, which has improved technical training curricula and teaching methods at 2-year colleges. His advocacy for investments in scientific research has earned him recognition by The Science Coalition, the American Chemical Society, and the National Association of Land-Grant Colleges and State Universities.

Although sometimes government helps the economy most by staying out of the way, economic growth through innovation can suffer when government is not an active partner.

As the representative of North Carolina’s Research Triangle, I am keenly aware of the need for government to join with the business community in promoting innovation through investments in research, education, and training. That is why I am encouraged by actions in Congress to promote a forward-looking “Innovation Agenda.”

In 2005, I was selected by then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to help draw up such a plan. Through roundtable discussions with businesses, organizations, and educational institutions, we concluded that our government was failing to adequately promote basic research activities and prepare the next generation of Americans to fill jobs in high-need fields such as science, math, engineering, and technology. Our recommendations helped form the basis for specific legislative actions that have been realized in the current Congress.

On August 9, 2007, the America COMPETES Act was signed into law. That legislation, which was supported by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate, authorized significant new resources for the National Science Foundation for basic research, additional scholarships, and professional development activities to boost the number of science and math teachers in the country.

It also created the Technology Innovation Program, a pre-competitive technology development program focusing on small and medium-sized companies. And finally, it reauthorized the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which leverages federal, state and private investments to spur new manufacturing processes and technologies. These affirmative steps to enhance American competitiveness led the Business Roundtable to remark, “This vital piece of legislation will help keep America on the cutting edge of science and technology well into the 21st century.”

However, when it came time to appropriate money for these critical programs, the bipartisan comity that characterized passage of the COMPETES Act gave way to presidential veto threats. In order to meet arbitrary domestic spending caps set by President Bush, many of these research programs received no or only modest increases that failed to keep pace with inflation.

Economists estimate that up to half of U.S. economic growth over the past five decades is attributable to advances in technology, many of which trace back to federal research dollars. The need for research and innovation is obvious in our highly competitive global economy, even if the political will to support it is not always so apparent.

But temporary setbacks must be answered by renewed commitments to innovation. By passing the COMPETES Act – in addition to making college more affordable and promoting energy efficiency and alternative energy technologies – this Congress has made real progress in the name of American competitiveness. The job before us now is to build on these accomplishments and to fortify the partnership among government, educational institutions and the private sector for research and innovation. In the face of economic uncertainty, we cannot afford to let America’s position slip as the global leader in developing new knowledge, new technologies and new industries.