Letter to Congresswoman Bonamici opposing the Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology Act

President Gottfredson and Vice President for Research and Innovation Kimberly Espy sent the following letter to Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon) expressing their opposition to H.R. 4186, the Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology (FIRST) Act, citing the act's potentially adverse effect on research.

March 31, 2014

Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici
United State House of Representatives
439 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Congresswoman Bonamici:

We strongly urge you to oppose H.R. 4186, the Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology (FIRST) Act. As you know, the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Technology considered and approved the FIRST Act by voice vote on March 13. While this vote was the committee’s first official action toward reauthorizing the America COMPETES Act, the FIRST Act falls short of the vision established by the original COMPETES Act for revitalizing the nation’s research and innovation enterprise.

The FIRST Act fails to meet the guiding principles for reauthorization of the COMPETES Act endorsed last year by the business, scientific, and higher education communities, including the University of Oregon. Among the most important of those principles is to set funding targets for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology that permit real growth for these agencies to stimulate long-term economic prosperity. The proposed legislation does not even keep pace with inflation for these agencies, whose work is critical to our future national competitiveness.

The bill would cut by more than 40 percent the funding authorization for important behavioral and economic research under the NSF’s Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate. This research is an important part of our nation and the UO’s research portfolios. It contributes to the understanding and solving economic, health, and security challenges both here in Oregon and nationwide, and increases the efficiency and efficacy of the cures, technologies, and discoveries made in other disciplines.

Beyond lagging funding levels, the FIRST Act includes troublesome new regulations that threaten to slow the pace of discovery and innovation with red tape. For example, it proposes unnecessary scientific misconduct penalties for NSF grantees that duplicate NSF’s already strong scientific misconduct policies. The bill also includes ill-conceived cost control measures that would impede researchers from obtaining adequate funding for their important work. These provisions are truly solutions in search of problems.

While amendments have slightly improved the bill, the measure still diverges too greatly from the spirit of the America COMPETES to gain the support of the research community. We ask you to oppose the legislation unless substantial changes are made to the bill to bring it back into line with the principles for reauthorization identified as vital to the health and prosperity of our economy by the business, scientific, and higher education communities. 

Your advocacy of research and innovation is much appreciated. Thank you for taking the University of Oregon’s concerns into consideration as the Science Committee continues its deliberations.

 

Sincerely,

Michael Gottfredson, President                                                   

Kimberly Andrews Espy, Vice President for Research and Innovation, Dean of the Graduate School