Tonight, NPR’s “All Things Considered” interviewed Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate. During the interview, Romney spent about a minute on the topic of increasing the federal basic research funding profile. He was specifically talking about energy and energy independence, but at least that topic nominally includes ITER.
The interview is here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18159620
Some quotes:
“Romney says that as a nation, the United States is going to have to start investing in energy technologies, fuel technologies, materials science and other basic areas that will help the country rid itself of dependency on foreign oil — in the same way that it has historically invested in the space program and health care.”
“He advocates increasing federal investments in energy, materials science, automotive technology and fuel technology from $4 billion a year — its current level — to $20 billion a year, over time.
To pay for these investments, Romney says he will ‘dramatically’ reduce the amount of discretionary nonmilitary funds. He would cap that at inflation less 1 percent, which he says would result in a 10-year savings of approximately $300 billion — ‘plenty of money to fund the increase from $4 billion to $20 billion that I’m speaking about.'”
It’s a start.
