By Stanley Tsou
Student Intern, Science and Technology Policy Program
On February 23, 2021, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced that he had directed Senate committees to craft a legislative package aimed at creating new American jobs and outcompeting China. Cited as the “centerpiece” of the legislation is the development of a revised Endless Frontier Act. A bipartisan bill, S.3832, was introduced by Schumer and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) last year to boost federal research funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and secure the United States’ global leadership in science and technology. While Schumer’s intentions for strengthening U.S. competitiveness with China are certainly well-fitted, the bill’s proposed changes to the structure of the NSF could undermine support for basic research and detract from the agency’s mission in advancing scientific knowledge. The revised version should make sure to balance the NSF’s existing portfolio, which emphasizes basic and applied research, with the new proposed efforts in innovation development.
In essence, the Endless Frontier Act represents an effort to authorize unprecedented budget increases to the NSF, the federal agency responsible for funding fundamental research and education initiatives across all scientific disciplines. The bill proposes a $100 billion investment in the NSF over five years, more than doubling its current annual budget ($8.5 billion in FY2021). In addition, the bill would rename the NSF the National Science and Technology Foundation (NSTF) and appoint a second deputy director to oversee a new technology branch, which would focus on key research areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, 5G wireless networks and advanced manufacturing. Furthermore, the Endless Frontier Act would also authorize an additional $10 billion over five years for the Department of Commerce to spend on 10 to 15 regional technology hubs outside the country’s existing tech centers, as an attempt to diversify growth and innovation across the country. These stated goals provide much-needed scientific capital for developing and commercializing technologies in critical sectors. However, the legislation’s proposal to change the NSF’s culture and organization puts the agency’s focus on funding curiosity-driven research in a precarious position.
The bill’s name invokes the groundbreaking 1945 report, “Science, the Endless Frontier,” written by Vannevar Bush, chief science advisor to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. In an effort to maintain the rapid momentum of scientific funding post-World War II, Bush addressed the importance of scientific research in combatting diseases, ensuring national security and providing employment to the American workforce. The report, which led to the creation of the NSF in 1950, also ushered in a new era of modern science policy, establishing a compact between the government and U.S. universities to carry out basic research in the public interest. Yet, 76 years after the publication of the report, Bush’s model has started to erode. After the Cold War ended, federal funding for research and development (R&D) became less of a priority. The 2020 Endless Frontier Act sheds light on stagnate federal R&D funding and the deteriorating position of science in public discourse and politics. With declining federal funding for basic sciences at federal research agencies, along with the upheaval surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, Sen. Schumer’s bill is an apt response to reestablish the role of science and technology in advancing U.S. economic and national security.
However, the Endless Frontier Act, in the 2020 form, could bring significant changes to the NSF’s mission and procedural norms. The bill proposes research program review processes that align the new NSTF more closely with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a mission-focused agency that supports high-risk, high-reward research. DARPA has comparatively tighter control over the projects it funds and can cancel any project that does not meet its benchmarks. The NSF, in contrast, has a focus on longitudinal, fundamental research, rigorously evaluated through peer review, which allows researchers to change course based on their findings. The Endless Frontier Act, with its focus on technological development, could detract from the NSF’s mission to advance curiosity-driven basic research, instead moving the agency toward funding use-inspired, applied research.
While there have been a number of recent, bipartisan efforts to ratchet up federal spending for major research funding agencies, including the NSF, the 2020 Endless Frontier Act is by far the most visible and arrives at a time of unprecedented economic and political unrest in America. Depending on the bill’s final language, the new version is likely to pass. Nevertheless, Congress will still need to appropriate funds over the next five years under deepening restrictions on the federal discretionary budget. More importantly, care should be taken to not impinge upon fundamental curiosity-driven research. While the Endless Frontier Act does provide a long overdue increase to the NSF’s funding in key technological areas, it should not compromise the nature of the NSF in advancing scientific knowledge. As basic research is the underlying platform on which applied research and development is built, should the Endless Frontier Act pass to law, Congress must not neglect the importance of basic research that underpins the original objective of the NSF.