Vice President Richard Cheney
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Vice President Cheney:

I am writing on behalf of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-United States of America (IEEE-USA) to express concern that Congress is under funding the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the detriment of the country’s pre-eminence in science. This under funding, if continued, will adversely impact our worldwide leadership in science and technology. We urge Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle to increase the NSF levels to those authorized by Public Law 107-368, the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002.

The House Appropriations Committee approved level of $5.47 billion is $278 million below the level submitted in the President’s Budget Request and $111 million below the FY2004 levels. Even more disturbing to the technology community is the $1.9 billion deficit of the Committee level for NSF in relation to the amount of $7.3 billion authorized by Public Law 107-368.

As stated in the Findings of Public Law 107-368, “The economic strength and national security of the United States and the quality of life of all Americans are grounded in the Nation's scientific and technological capabilities.” In addition, the Findings provide an extremely compelling rationale for providing increased funding for the NSF: “The National Science Foundation must be provided with sufficient resources to enable it to carry out its responsibilities to develop intellectual capital, strengthen the scientific infrastructure, integrate research and education, enhance the delivery of mathematics and science education in the United States…”

IEEE-USA strongly supported passage of National Science Foundation Authorization Act. We agreed with the stated objectives of the bill that increasing NSF funding would "strengthen the Nation's lead in science and technology." Conversely, the drastic cuts now approved by the House Appropriations Committee threaten to diminish that lead considerably. We urge you to bring the NSF back to the authorized level.

IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of the IEEE. It was created in 1973 to advance the public good and promote the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 225,000 technology professionals 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. If you have any questions, please contact Bill Williams
at 202-785-0017 x 8331.

Sincerely,

John W. Steadman, Ph.D., P.E.
2004 IEEE-USA President

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