ACS Position Statement: FY 2010

Statement on National Institute of Standards and Technology: FY 2010

ACS Statement on National Institute of Standards and Technology: FY 2010

ACS Position

The American Chemical Society (ACS) urges Congress to support the $652 million funding level (1.2 percent increase over FY 2009) for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) core programs as outlined in the president’s FY 2010 budget request. This level, when taken in conjunction with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds bill, puts NIST on a doubling track to 2016. ACS supports the $535 million request for NIST laboratories (13 percent increase over FY 2009). ACS urges Congress to fund the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) at the authorized level of $140.5 million.

ACS supports increased investments in NIST to advance research, measurement methods, and standards that are vital to American industry and the nation’s economic competitiveness and security. Increased funding is necessary to meet ongoing private sector needs for NIST measurements and standards, as well as growing needs in homeland security, advanced manufacturing, climate, and nanotechnology.

America COMPETES Act

ACS remains committed to the broad blueprint laid out in the America COMPETES Act. The COMPETES Act represented a moment of true bipartisanship in the first session of the 110th Congress. America’s future competitiveness will be enhanced through sustained, predictable federal investments in science agencies like NIST.

NIST Laboratories

ACS supports the $535 million request for NIST laboratories. NIST laboratories serve as the technological nerve center for countless products and services across industries. By advancing research and extremely accurate measurement technology, NIST enables universal quality-control technologies that undergird industrial productivity, efficiency improvements, and faster product development. NIST also plays a critical role in advancing public health and safety, environmental progress, and national security. For example, NIST’s calibration and related measurement methods are critical in areas such as emission control, fuel-composition control, laser eye surgery, smoke-detector sensitivity, electricity-meter readings, energy-efficiency measurement, and the operation of fiber optics.

ACS applauds NIST’s Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory for its high-quality research and technology support for chemical and other industries. The Society supports increased investment in this laboratory. Additional funding also is needed to support NIST’s increased role in climate research, nanotechnology, information technology, and homeland security technologies vital to detecting terrorist threats.

ACS is concerned that recent cuts in standards-related programs have hampered NIST’s ability to promote U.S. standards and to facilitate global trade. Without NIST’s consensus-based measurement standards, companies would be less innovative, less efficient, and less competitive. Independent studies show that every dollar invested in NIST measurement and standards returns at least three dollars in national economic benefit.

ACS also supports the request for $117 million for Construction of Research Facilities. These funds support facility improvements and acquisition of cutting-edge equipment in Boulder, Colorado, and Gaithersburg, Maryland. In previous years, in excess of $100 million was used annually to support projects peripheral to the NIST mission. We urge Congress to fully fund NIST’s core infrastructure requirements prior to investing in ancillary programs.

Technology Innovation Program

ACS continues to support NIST’s Technology Innovation Program (TIP), established to support, promote, and accelerate innovation in the United States through high-risk, high-reward research in areas of critical national need. This program enables small- and medium-sized businesses to work in joint ventures and with universities to commercialize high-risk technologies. Without this program, the U.S. would continue to be at a global competitive disadvantage if these businesses, the traditional incubators of innovation, could not pursue high-risk opportunities. ACS urges Congress to fully fund TIP at the $140.5 million level authorized by the America COMPETES Act (PL 110-69) for FY 2010.