Contact: Chris McManes IEEE-USA-Backed
Amendment to Increase WASHINGTON (21 March 2002) — IEEE-USA endorsed U.S. Sens. Jean Carnahan (D-Mo.) and Bill Nelson's (D-Fla.) successful proposal to increase the Department of Defense Science and Technology budget over the next five years. Carnahan made her proposal to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), and Nelson offered an amendment to the Federal FY2003 budget resolution, which the committee passed today. IEEE-USA joined the senators in encouraging the Administration and Congress to provide 3 percent, or $11 billion, of the Defense Department budget for S&T program accounts for basic research (account 6.1), applied research (6.2) and advanced technology development (6.3) in FY2003. "The United States is the dominant military force in the world, due in large part to DoD's continued support of S&T," IEEE-USA President LeEarl Bryant said. "To maintain that superiority, we must invest in science and technology today." The DoD's S&T program helps the United States promote and maintain its technological superiority on the battlefield. It supports the fundamental research and development in sciences and technologies identified as important to military capabilities and operations. This includes development of our nation's high-tech weapons systems and the technology base upon which they rely. These systems are playing a key role in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. S&T funding has a major impact on the nation's intellectual infrastructure by supporting 65 percent of total federal investment in electrical engineering research at U.S. universities. Some of the most critical and groundbreaking engineering developments of the past 50 years, such as conceptual development of the Internet, were spawned by defense-related research. You can go to http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/policy/02march18.html to view Bryant's letter of support to Carnahan. IEEE-USA President-Elect Jim Leonard of St. Charles, Mo., met with the Carnahan's office earlier this month during Congressional Visits Day to discuss her proposal. IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers created in 1973 to promote the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 235,000 electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. For more information, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org.
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