0.12 The bush-41 years: 1989-93  (Page 4/8)

Revitalizing ostp

When he arrived in Washington, Bromley discovered that the OSTP staff had only eleven members and a $1.5 millionbudget, down from fifty members and $4 million during the Carter years. Bromley, op. cit ., 40-41. Bromley moved quickly to recruit competent new OSTP staff. By the time he departed Washington in January 1993, the OSTP budget was $6.25million and its staff numbered sixty-five. Bromley managed this turnaround in part because of the cordial relations he established with key members ofCongress. Additionally, since he had abided by the substance of the Science Policy Act by recruiting four associate directors subject to confirmation by theSenate, prospective OSTP staff members at lower levels felt assured that they could make a difference. These staff members served as liaison to the principalfederal research agencies, to other organizations within the Executive Office of the President—particularly the OMB—supported the activities of the newlyconstituted PCAST, and helped upgrade the status of the FCCSET, whose revitalization Bromley considered one of his principal achievements.

Federal r&D budgets

Bush’s budget requests for science- and technology- related agencies signaled from the outset that he was convinced of theirimportance to the nation. In a statement accompanying his first budget request for fiscal year 1990, which he delivered personally before a Joint Session ofCongress, he laid out the following proposals:

• Keeping on track to double the budget of the National Science Foundation by 1993;
• Making permanent the tax credit for R&D;
• Creating a new task force on competitiveness, to be chaired by the Vice President;
• Funding for NASA and a strong space program: “We must have a manned space station; a vigorous, safe space shuttle program, and morecommercial development in space”;
• A new attitude about the environment: “We must protect the air we breathe. I will send to you shortly legislation for a new, more effective CleanAir Act.” “Text: ‘A Realistic Plan for Tackling’ Deficit,” Los Angels Times (Feb. 10, 1989), 20.

The president’s proposed budget for fiscal year 1991 was the first whose science and technology components had been crafted inlarge measure by Bromley. For the first time in more than a decade, the budget included a far larger increase for civilian as opposed to military R&D. But, as Science noted, “big science” was the big winner in these proposals. The bulk of the proposed budget was to supportsix big science projects:

1. The Strategic Defense Initiative;
2. The Space Station;
3. The Moon/Mars initiative;
4. The Superconducting Super Collider;
5. The National Aerospace Plane;
6. The Human Genome Project. Colin Norman, “Bush Budget Highlights,” Science 247 (Feb. 2, 1990), 517-19.

The inability of the federal budget simultaneously to support so many big science projects and the desirability of seekinginternational support for the civilian-oriented projects were soon to become major themes during Bromley’s tenure.

The fiscal year 1991 budget proposed a major increase for research on global climate change. The proposed budget for globalchange research exceeded $1 billion, with NASA’s Earth Observation System satellites as its centerpiece. However, for the first time, the Bromley-craftedR&D budget presented a cross-cutting proposal, with six agencies in addition to NASA receiving substantial support for global change-related research. Budgetcross-cuts were to become a notable aspect of Bromley’s revitalization of FCCSET.