House Speaker Gingrich Calls Increased Science Spending a Priority

“First of all, I am willing to renegotiate the budget numbers for science and defense because I think there you ought to respond to the opportunity in science and to the demand in defense,”declared House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) to the House Budget Committee. In testimony and questioning at an October 23 hearing, the Speaker made it clear that increasing federal science spending is one of his major priorities.

Gingrich’s remarks are an unmistakable signal to the administration, his colleagues, and the public. In direct language, the Speaker comes out in strong support for increasing federal support for science using any future budget surplus, efficiency savings, and, significantly (as expressed above) his willingness to shift money into science in the current budget agreement.

The following are selections from his testimony:

”...I really commend this committee for this hearing; this is a historic starting point for one of the most important dialogues that we are going to have in our generation.... Where do we go over the next number of years?”

“I think it is very important for this committee to ask of the witnesses, how do you rank certain priorities? And I will give you mine to start with.”

“My suggestion here would be that our first goal every year is to run a surplus.” “That [surplus] gets used...to pay down the debt.”

“Second, I think we ought to have some tax relief every year.”

“Third, I believe there should be modernization in science, defense, and transportation.”(Here Gingrich discusses transportation.)

“Now, I believe that we are a nation that has the inevitable responsibility to lead the planet. I believe there is no other replacement for us as a leader, and I think if we don’t take this seriously for the next generation, we are in deep trouble. And in order for us to lead, we have to first invest in science and in research, because as we enter the Information Age, the country that invests--and I am very proud of the work [House Appropriations Committee subcommittee chairman] John Porter has done to dramatically increase funding of the National Institutes of Health, because if we will lead in biotechnology and we will lead in information sciences and we will lead in material sciences--and you can go right down the list--the entire world is going to look to America for leadership. And our children are going to have the jobs, and we’re going to do fine in the world market because we will have the highest value added jobs, or the highest productivity, giving us the highest take-home pay and the best qualitative future.

“And you see this all across the South where, over a long period of time, new Information Age jobs have come in. And, in fact, Atlanta has grown and prospered because it is at the cutting edge of the 21st century while retaining the civility of traditional Southern behavior.

“But if you look at jobs in Atlanta, they are not the classic jobs of 30 years ago. You look at Coca-Cola’s success, it is because it is a world company. You look at CNN, it is a world company. It is a different kind of environment, and we have to be prepared to invest in science.

“Second, we have to modernize our defense system. We have lived off the Reagan buildup about as long as we can. The fact is, our defense structure is getting weaker. Our equipment is getting obsolete, our troops are stretched too thin, and we are going to have to make a major commitment. If we are serious about leading the world, we have to make a major commitment in the next 25 years to having the kind of equipment and technologies that allow us to have total dominance.

“And I will be very clear. I don’t want us to be strong enough to win narrowly. I want us to be so strong nobody competes with us....”

"...I would like to see Medicare stable for a generation, Social Security stable for a generation, a balanced budget for a generation, the scientific leadership of the planet in the United States, an economy capable of leading the world and giving our kids the best possible jobs, and a defense structure nobody can compete with.

“This is the scale of the generational challenge....”

In response to questions, the Speaker said:

“I am committed to the United States leading the planet. I don’t believe there is any replacement for us leading. I think everywhere you turn, it is obvious that people expect us to lead. And that means that 20 years from now, we have to have made a rational investment in defense and in science that enables us to sustain that leadership.”

The Speaker later spoke of government privatization, modernization, and restructuring, and how the savings could be applied:

“And so I am very committed to the idea of modernizing the government, and that can give us some of the money to then modernize science and defense. It doesn’t just have to come out of the [projected federal budget] surplus.”

A very important point was made by Gingrich when asked the following question by Rep. Mark Neuman (R-WI). The Neuman question was: “Mr. Speaker, I agree with virtually everything you have said here this morning. I very much appreciate your being here. When I listen to your goals, your priority three, which is to invest in the future - science, research, transportation, modernize defense - the question I would have for you is, between now and the year 2002, would you advocate spending in excess of the budget agreement numbers, or are we talking, in order to achieve these goals, spending within the budget agreement numbers and redirecting the priorities of that sort?”

Speaker Gingrich replied: “There are three things. First of all, I am willing to renegotiate the budget numbers for science and defense because I think there you ought to respond to the opportunity in science and to the demand in defense. I am willing to say, I can talk about what do we need to do there within the framework of getting to a balanced budget....”

Your comments on the Speaker’s testimony before the House Budget Committee on October 23 should be of interest to him and to your own representative. The address is:

The Honorable ____________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515