President Clinton: Two Speeches on Science and Technology

President Clinton has made two speeches this month on science and technology. Portions of each follow:

FEBRUARY 3: TO WORKERS AND COMMUNITY OF LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY

After describing his balanced budget request, President Clinton said: ”...we can still continue to substantially increase our commitment to scientific research and technological development, which are key to our success in the new global economy of the Information Age.

“I have worked to increase our investments in research and development for the last five years even as we have reduced the deficit by over 90 percent. And the new balanced budget contains the largest investment in science and technology in history. It includes a $31 billion 21st century Research Fund -- to significantly increase funding for the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the National Cancer Institute.

“It funds critically important initiatives in areas ranging from astrophysics to agricultural technology. Now, just a few minutes ago, I toured the labs here to see some of that 21st century technology our balanced budget will help to develop further. The supercomputers here, along with those at Lawrence Livermore and Sandia Laboratories, are already the fastest in the world. They’re already being used to do everything from predicting the consequences of global warming to designing more fuel efficient engines to discovering life saving drugs to cracking down on Medicare fraud.

“Let me just say, parenthetically, it is terribly important that this environmental mission continue, because I have a big job to do as President to convince all of you -- and people like you all across America -- that there really is a scientific consensus that if we don’t do something to slow the rate of greenhouse gas emissions and in fact turn it around and reduce it in America and throughout the developed world and eventually throughout the developing world as well, we will disrupt our climate in ways that are potentially disastrous for people all around the world sometime in the next century.”

“We know now things that we couldn’t have ever known before because of what science is teaching us and it enables us to take small steps now to avoid having to take huge and more burdensome steps later to do what is clearly right. So I think that it is almost impossible to exaggerate the responsibility and the opportunity these labs have to build a consensus necessary in our country to do what has to be done to both continue to grow our economy at a brisk rate, but to do it in a different way so that we reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

“Today I also want to announce to you that that balanced budget includes over $500 million -- $517 million to be exact -- to help the Department of Energy develop the next generation of supercomputer technology.” “Of all the remarkable things these supercomputers will be able to accomplish, none will be more important than helping to make sure that the world is safe from the threat of nuclear weapons.”

“Five years ago, I directed the development of the Stockpile Stewardship Program to maintain our nuclear arsenal through science. The program is an essential safeguard to accompany the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In fact, I don’t think we can get the treaty ratified unless we can convince the Senate that the Stockpile Stewardship Program works; that we will be secure while we try to make the world safer from the dangers of nuclear development and nuclear use in other countries. Now, by combining past nuclear data with the high-tech simulations that computers like those here at Los Alamos make possible, we are keeping the arsenals safe, reliable and effective. And we’re doing it without detonating a single explosion.”

FEBRUARY 13: TO THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE

“We must seize this moment to strengthen our nation for the new century by expanding our commitment to discovery -- increasing our support for science, pressing our progress in the war against cancer and other diseases, protecting our children from public health dangers, most especially from the deadly addiction of tobacco.”

“Now, where will be 50 years from now? By the year 2048, when a future President of the United States addresses your bicentennial meeting, fusion and solar power may yield abundant energy. In any case, I am absolutely convinced that by then we will have discovered how to grow the economy by restoring, not depleting, our planet.

“By then, telephones may translate foreign languages in real time. We may well have a permanent space station on the surface of Mars. And some of the greatest victories in the next 50 years doubtless will be in the ancient battle against human disease -- its prevention, its detection, its treatment, and its cure...”

"...And I think it is important to remember, as Americans tend to focus on the health miracles that can come from scientific progress, that advances in health research and prevention and treatment depend upon the entire scientific enterprise, including engineering efforts.

“For example, the MRI, a diagnostic tool that has benefited many of us in this audience today, originally came from research in nuclear physics. Space research today has vast implications for human health, which is one of the reasons I am so excited about Senator John Glenn going back into space.”

"...the proposal we have in the balanced budget for a 21st Century Research Fund...providing for the first time a strong, stable, multiyear source of funding for research that will enable you to engage in long-term planning as never before.

“This commitment represents the largest funding increase in history for the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. It will provide substantial budget increases for basic and applied research at NASA, the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture. It will spur technological innovations that will help us to combat global climate change, a growing threat that the journal, `Science’ warned us about more than 30 years ago now. Perhaps most important to American citizens in the moment, the 21st Century Research Fund will give us the means to win the war on cancer....”

Referring to human cloning, the President stated: “Let me say on one other point, the extraordinary promise of science and technology carries with it, as all of you know, extraordinary responsibilities for those who seek to advance the promise. It is incumbent upon both scientists and public servants to ensure that science serves humanity always, and never the other way around.”