America COMPETES – Not!

Like many of you, I am exceedingly distressed by recent news about the Federal research budget and the prospects for an omnibus appropriations bill. Peter Harsha cogently describes the bleak situation in the CRA Computing Research Policy Blog. The major science agencies – NIH, NSF, DOE, NIST and NASA – will see minimal budget increases, many below the rate of inflation.

Given the enormous effort mobilized by the academic and industrial research communities and strong bipartisan support for the COMPETES Act , we expected a positive outcome for appropriations. The storm is rising, and we're in a leaky rowboat. This does not bode well for America's competitive future.