Silicon Valley Leadership Group Supports House Budget Resolution on Innovation Funding Business Trade Association Says Funding Essential to Region's Competitiveness

The Silicon Valley Leadership Group today announced its strong support of a House budget resolution which provides more than $10 billion in increased funding in 2008 for innovation technology and education that the organization believes is critical to maintaining competitiveness in the global economy.

"These investments are urgently needed to advance the nation's ability to remain competitive," Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "A final budget must include increased funding for general science, space and technology innovations in addition to more education and training opportunities. This will result in more highly qualified teachers in math and science K-12 education, better training for the existing workforce, and more jobs."

The investments in the resolution are part of the House "Innovation Agenda: A Commitment to Competitiveness to Keep America #1." They include an increase of $2 billion over current services for general science, space and technology innovation, $7.9 billion more for education, training and employment programs and $300 million more for energy-related projects.

The Leadership Group, which represents 210 companies on public policy issues affecting the economic health and quality of life in Silicon Valley, noted in its letter that America has dropped from third to seventeenth in the percentage of students pursuing natural science and engineering degrees since 1975, and that a shortage of skilled workers in these fields forces American employers to look elsewhere for employees.

"Specifically, we support increased funding for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and National Institute of Health," Guardino wrote. "Further, we support simplification, modernization and permanency in the federal R&D tax credit to provide for the innovation and creativity that, in the past, have propelled America to the forefront. Finally, incumbent and displaced workers in the high-tech fields should have the opportunity to receive on-the-job training as well as continued retraining in order to sustain an established edge against scientists and engineers from abroad."