Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday called for Congress to pump more money into basic research and math and science education as part of an "innovation" agenda designed to retain U.S. leadership in the technology industry.
Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi referred to former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who called on the U.S. to reach the moon first during the space race with the former Soviet Union in the 1960s. "There will be those who say that we can’t afford to make these investments," she said. "Democrats believe we can’t afford not to make them. We have no choice ... In the words of President Kennedy, ’We intend to be first.’"
Retaining the U.S. leadership in high tech and ending its dependence on foreign energy sources will be the Democrats’ top priorities, Pelosi said at a Washington, D.C., press conference. She called on Republicans, which hold a majority in both chambers of Congress, to join the Democrats in pushing the goals.
Pelosi called on Congress to create programs that would add 100,000 new scientists, mathematicians and engineers to the U.S. workforce in the next four years. Scholarships and other financial aid would help achieve this goal, she said.
The Democratic plan, developed after conversations with technology and business executives, would double the grants issued by the National Science Foundation, and it calls for all U.S. residents to have "affordable" access to broadband Internet within five years. Republican President George Bush has called for universal broadband access by 2007.
Congress should also ensure that the U.S. has independence from foreign energy sources such as oil within 10 years, Pelosi said. She called on Congress to create a program in the U.S. Department of Energy that would develop "high-risk, high-reward, revolutionary technologies." The U.S. also needs to encourage technologies such as bio-based fuels, flex-fuel engines and hybrid vehicles, she said.
"We should be spending America’s energy dollars in the [U.S.] Midwest, not the Middle East," she said.
The innovation agenda will be the Democrats’ top priority, Pelosi said, although she avoided questions about what issues will now take a lower priority and how Congress will pay for the new programs. Democrats don’t want Congress to run up the U.S. government’s budget deficit, she said, and the Democratic agenda calls for new programs to be funded on a "pay-as-you-go" basis.
"I’m willing to put these priorities up against any others," Pelosi said.
While some IT companies and trade