Bush and Kerry on Technology Issues

By  Barton Reppert

As 21st century technology marches onward, both President George Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry like to portray themselves as highly attentive to America’s high-tech future. Both candidates view technology as key to bolstering the global competitiveness of the U.S. economy, as well as contributing substantially to national defense, the war against terrorism, homeland security, energy development, environmental protection, health care, transportation and other sectors.

Beyond that, however, Bush and Kerry often differ significantly on specific government programs and initiatives needed to help reap maximum benefits from advanced technology.

On 24 June, both Bush and Kerry made appearances — on opposite coasts of the nation — in which they enunciated high-tech initiatives. Bush, speaking at the Commerce Department in Washington, dealt with technology issues ranging from developing hydrogen fuel cells for cars and trucks to the use of electronic recordkeeping in medicine, nationwide deployment of broadband Internet service, and better use of the wireless communications spectrum.

Calling for accelerated spread of broadband, the President observed that “access has gone from 7 million subscriber lines in 2000, to 28 million last year. That’s rapid growth. Yet, on a per capita basis, America ranks 10th amongst the industrialized world. That’s not good enough ... The goal is to be ranked first when it comes to per capita use of broadband technology.”

Kerry, speaking at San Jose State University in California’s Silicon Valley, was critical of the Bush administration, saying that it, "has failed to lead on science and innovation. Under Bush’s watch, America has slipped from fourth to tenth in adoption of broadband and lost 800,000 high-tech jobs. His administration has put politics over science and cut virtually every area of research critical to our economic growth.”

As both candidates ratchet up their campaign appearances — and the rhetoric — here is a roundup of Bush and Kerry positions on various issues of concern to engineers:

R&D Agencies

Under Bush’s fiscal year 2005 budget proposal, total federal R&D funding is aimed to reach $132 million, a 44 percent increase over FY 2001. According to a report by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), “the President’s 2005 budget request commits 13.5 percent of total discretionary outlays to R&D — the highest level in 37 years. Not since 1968 and the Apollo program have we seen an investment in science of this magnitude.” These proposals must now be turned into law by Congress, which has already voted to increase funds for some programs.

However, an analysis by the American Association for the Advancement of Science of outyear projections in the FY 2005 budget shows that while nondefense R&D would increase from $56.0 billion this year to $60.5 billion by FY 2009, the cut would equal 0.5 percent after adjusting for expected inflation. Large planned increases in NASA and the Department of Homeland Security would offset steep planned cuts in all other nondefense R&D agencies, according to the AAAS analysis.

In a statement issued on 24 June, Kerry’s campaign said that if elected he “will boost support for the physical sciences and engineering by increasing research investments” in agencies such as the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and NASA. The statement did not offer specific budget dollar targets for such stepped-up funding. Senator Kerry has not taken a position on this year's budget, and did not vote on the defense department budget that passed through the Senate in June — a bill that increases Defense R&D by eight percent.

Nanotechnology

Both Bush and Kerry support funding for the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). According to an OSTP report, nanotech is “one of the president’s highest priorities in multi-agency research and development. Nanotechnology is expected to have a broad and fundamental impact on many sectors of the economy, providing economic growth in the form of new products, new businesses, and new jobs.” Kerry calls nanotechnology one of the key “industries of the future.”

Advanced Technology Program

Bush’s FY 2005 budget calls for zeroing out funding for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), based at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The administration other federal programs do a better job funding such programs, and that ATP grants often go to large corporations which do not need them.

In contrast, a technology issue brief from Kerry’s campaign says that the ATP deserves continued funding because it “provides support for projects that have high-payoff potential but often cannot get private sector support.”

Research & Experimentation Tax Credit

Both Bush and Kerry support making permanent the research and experimentation tax credit (a.k.a. the R&D tax credit), which expired on 30 June. The House and Senate have passed separate tax bills that would extend the R&D tax credit for 18 months. Conference is now required to craft a compromise. Bush has indicated that he will support the measure; Kerry did not vote on the Senate's version.

Homeland Security

Bush’s FY 2005 budget request includes more than $3.6 billion devoted to R&D aimed at preparing for and responding to the full range of terrorist threats. According to Bush, “in the war against terrorism, America’s vast science and technology base provides us with a key advantage.” This effort includes programs to quickly detect biological agents and disease outbreaks, increase security for U.S. laboratories, and tighten security of computer networks controlling critical infrastructure.

Kerry advocates “bringing information technology to the war on terror,” including upgrading equipment to ensure that first responders can communicate in an attack, as well as sharing information with appropriate state and local officials. At the same time, according to a Kerry campaign statement, “With better technology, we can replace these ‘big-net’ tactics with more targeted efforts to identify real terrorism suspects.”

Spectrum Management

In June 2003, Bush signed an executive memorandum launching the Spectrum Policy Initiative, to develop recommendations for improving radio frequency spectrum management and promoting more efficient use of spectrum. In his 24 June speech, Bush called for passage of the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act, which would streamline the current process for reimbursing federal agencies that must relocate from spectrum that has been reallocated to commercial use.

Kerry’s technology issue brief points to recent developments with Wi-Fi. “The potential for this and other technologies that could operate in unlicensed spectrum is limitless. However, our spectrum rules are designed on the notion that spectrum is a finite, scarce resource. Kerry will work to make more spectrum available for experimentation with new, more efficient technologies and radios. He also believes that the federal government could reallocate spectrum and make it available for third-generation wireless phone networks.”

Broadband Internet

In an initiative announced on 26 April and reiterated in his 24 June speech, Bush has called for universal, affordable access for broadband technology by the year 2007. “Broadband technology will enhance our nation’s economic competitiveness and will help improve education and health care for all Americans,” a White House statement said. The President urged Congress to pass legislation making access to broadband permanently tax-free.

Kerry also favors substantially greater access to broadband. His technology issue brief says “economists have estimated that widespread, high-speed access could increase our national GDP by as much as $500 billion annually by 2006 and another study predicted that building and using a robust, nationwide broadband network will create an estimated 1.2 million new and permanent jobs.”

Offshore Outsourcing

At a 5 May speech in Dayton, Ohio, President Bush told supporters that, "We care about outsourcing in America. We want people working here." But he also warned that an isolationist policy was the wrong answer to stimulating growth at home. A 14 June Policy Memo from the Bush/Cheney camp on the economy cited recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data to support its argument that some have "exaggerated and distorted the outsourcing phenomenon for political or commercial gain."

The memo says that "the new BLS data, while not perfect, indicates that outsourcing has proved to have much less of an impact than has been charged and is a much less significant factor than the increase in productivity." Kerry opposes large-scale outsourcing of work abroad. Last March, he unveiled a tax proposal that he said would reward companies for keeping jobs in the United States.

Education

The Bush administration is undertaking various initiatives, including the Mathematics and Science Partnership Program to provide extra help for middle- and high-school students who fall behind in math, and the Presidential Math and Science Scholars Fund, intended to provide $100 million in grants to low-income students who study math or science at colleges and universities.

Bush declared in an 26 April speech that “in order to make sure that we’ve got the skill sets necessary for what is a changing world, a changing economy, we need to focus on math and science in our public schools. And we’ve got a shortage of teachers in the public schools, and so we’ve laid out a program to encourage scientists and engineers from the private sector to teach in the public school.”

According to his technology issue brief, Kerry supports math-science partnerships between elementary and secondary schools and the private sector, teacher training in math and science, and remedial and after-school programs that focus on math and science.

In a 8 December 2003 speech at Stanford University, the senator declared that “a well educated workforce is essential to economic leadership. We need to start producing more scientists and engineers here at home. And we need to produce the scientists and technicians and engineers of the coming years so that their innovations will power our economy into the future.” Kerry added that “today, there are more information technology engineers in Bangalore than in Silicon Valley — and we need to invest in our people if we want them to invent the products of tomorrow here at home.”

Voter Resources

• President George W. Bush's campaign site:
  www.georgewbush.com

• Senator John F. Kerry's campaign site:
  www.johnkerry.com

• Ralph Nader's campaign site:
  www.votenader.org

• Engineering the Vote
  www.engineeringthevote.org

• IEEE-USA's Policy Position Statements
  www.ieeeusa.org/forum/POSITIONS

Barton Reppert is a freelance science and technology writer based in Gaithersburg, Md. Previously, he worked for 18 years as a reporter and editor with The Associated Press in Washington, New York and Moscow. E-mail: barton.reppert@verizon.net.