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PASADENA, California, (AFP) - U.S. President Bill Clinton chose a receptive audience last week to announce a push for about $2.8 billion to fund basic scientific research.
Speaking to students and faculty at the California Institute of Technology, Clinton said he would include the funding in the budget for fiscal year 2000 that he sends to U.S. lawmakers next month.
"We have not done a good enough job helping all Americans to understand why we need very, very large investments in science and technology," the president said.
"The budget I will submit to Congress in just a few days will include a $2.8 billion increase in our 'Twenty-First Century Research Fund,'" he said.
The money would ensure that the United States continues to lead the world in university-based scientific disciplines, including biomedical research, nanotechnology, information technology and clean energy, as well as scientific education, he said.
The highlights of his proposal include:
- An extra $1 billion for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health;
- "A more than $600 million increase" in information technology research;
- A $675 million increase for the National Science Foundation, which accounts for half of all non-health university based research;
- A new $497 million "National Nanotechnology Initiative" for research into manipulating individual atoms and molecules;
- An increase in investment in bio-based technologies.
Scientific breakthroughs have helped people live longer, healthier lives, he said, recalling the invention of the polio vaccine when he was a child.
Spending money on basic research is good for the economy, Clinton added, reminding the audience that in February the United States will have recorded its longest ever economic expansion.
"We need for more Americans to understand why we need a broad research agenda," the president said.
Clinton, 53, also praised the university for the contributions its researchers had made in jet flight, genetics, physics and astronomy and other fields.
"It was this brilliant Cal Tech community that first located genes on chromosomes, and unlocked the secrets of chemical bonds and quarks," he said. "You were the propulsive force behind jet flight and built America's first satellite," Clinton added.
"With your new gravitational wave observatory, you will open an entirely new window on the mysteries of the universe, observing the propagating ripples which Einstein predicted 84 years ago."
But he reminded the students that some advances could also threaten society, citing dangers posed to individual privacy by computers, and medical research which could be used to deny health coverage.
He urged listeners not to lose sight of larger human goals as they pursue careers studying lofty scientific mysteries. "Always try to keep your values at the core of what you do," Clinton said.
"Tell every one of your fellow citizens, and indeed people with whom you come in contact all across the world, that every single scientific advance confirms over and over again the most important fact of life: our common humanity," he said
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