Good morning.
The Subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare recesses at any time.
I would like to welcome everyone to our hearing on the Fiscal Year 2024 budget request for the National Science Foundation. Thank you to our Subcommittee Members and to our witness, Dr. Panchanathan, Director of the NSF, for being here today.
The National Science Foundation plays an important role in our government, with a broad mission to promote the progress of science. Unlike other federal agencies that have mission-specific approaches to research, the National Science Foundation supports fundamental, basic research from across the spectrum. This research is the foundation for the technological advances of the future.
The fiscal year 2024 budget request for the National Science Foundation is $11.3 billion, an increase of nearly $2.5 billion – or 28% – over the fiscal year 2023 base discretionary enacted level. NSF also received over a billion dollars in emergency appropriations in FY23 and was recently reauthorized through FY27 in the CHIPS & Science Act.
Included in the FY24 request is $1.2 billion for NSF’s new Technology, Innovations, and Partnerships Directorate. Leveraging partnerships with industry is vital to the strength of America’s research enterprise, and I look forward to hearing how these resources would bolster American competitiveness.
NSF’s work and support of American research has established the United States as the international leader in scientific and technology advancement. Despite this, our research enterprise is facing an immense challenge as China continues to invest in research and development at a staggering level. Even more concerning, China has increasingly focused its resources on basic research, as it recognizes the potential for the advancements that can be made by investing in the fundamentals.
We are at a critical time in the competition for American international scientific leadership, and a free research enterprise. The Chinese Communist Party continues to employ devious tactics to steal American research and intellectual property, even going as far as enlisting U.S. researchers into its talent programs.
NSF has been a leader in its response to these tactics, working with law enforcement, universities, and Congress to address these issues head on. I am interested to hear how NSF is working with universities to implement research security policies, as well as a government-wide research security strategy. It is my hope that NSF will make research security a top priority in FY24.
I am also interested in learning more about NSF’s plans to bolster American competitiveness through the STEM workforce. To meet the growing demands of industry and outcompete China, we must be reaching students across the country, including in rural communities. NSF has made great steps forward in this focus, and I am particularly interested in NSF’s plans for the EPSCoR program in FY24.
I would now like to recognize our ranking member, Mr. Cartwright of Pennsylvania, for his opening statement.
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