President Richard Brodhead visited Capitol Hill Tuesday to lobby Congress to increase funding for research in the physical sciences.
An omnibus spending bill, which Congress passed in December, lacked the expected increase in funding requested by President George W. Bush.
But an emergency supplement bill that would increase research spending by $500 million is expected to come before Congress this spring.
The bill would send an additional $300 million to the Department of Energy and $200 million to the National Science Foundation. Both organizations currently fund ongoing research endeavors at Duke.
John Burness, senior vice president for government affairs and public relations, joined Brodhead in Washington and said the bill was only one piece of a broader discussion on the importance of overall science funding.
Federal funding for all sciences makes up approximately 84 percent of Duke's research budget.
"Everyone recognizes the importance of research in providing employment opportunities as well as improving the quality of life through new technology," Burness said.
He added, however, that tax cuts and spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made it difficult to obtain additional funding.
James Siedow, vice provost for research and a professor of biology, said the omission of a funding increase was largely due to a ballooning federal deficit and key party issues that overshadowed research.
"On the Republican side, they have issues A, B and C; the Democratic issues are D, E and F," he said. "Research funding is issue G, which everyone agrees is important, but doesn't make any side's list, so it gets lost in the shuffle."
Lack of spending growth not only hinders future research expansion, but also potentially endangers the continuation of current projects.
Siedow said researchers relying on grants might be forced to scrap their projects, adding that this could limit the number of research opportunities for undergraduates.
Brodhead's visit to Washington brought needed publicity to the funding concerns shared by universities across the country, Siedow said.
Brodhead met Wednesday with Rep. David Price, a Democrat who represents Durham and a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Price is also on leave from a post as professor of political science and public policy to serve in the House.
In a statement to The (Raleigh) News & Observer, Price spokesperson Paul Cox said the bill's passage was not a sure thing. Supplemental bills, he added, are usually reserved for war-time spending and following national catastrophes.
Burness said he and Brodhead had several "very good talks" with members of Congress but recognized limited resources as a potential obstacle.
"There's not much money out there," Burness said. "It's hard to be optimistic that we'll see major improvements. It'll be a tough fight."
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