George W. Bush gave his last State of the Union address as president last night, and already the pundits are dissecting what it means for science, technology and health issues.
The answer, of course, is relatively little, since Bush is on his last 12 months in the job. But his address is still significant in that it sets the tone for what Bush will continue to work for as he winds down his presidency. After all, he remains the leader of the most powerful country in the world, even if no one in Washington is paying attention to anyone who’s not named Obama, McCain, Romney, Giuliani or Clinton.
The old joke is that expectations are set low on purpose for the speech, and that Bush met them. The folks over at Science Progress have a pre-speech look at how science and technology played in prior State of the Union addresses. The short answer: energy and innovation are big, stem cells and carbon emissions are not. Last night Bush remedied that, if only to mention embryonic stem cells in the context of the human skin reprogramming work last fall that conservatives have seized on as a reason not to fund embryonic stem-cell work.
Energy popped up in its usual framework as well, with Bush praising Congress – well, at least acknowledging it – for passing a massive energy bill late last year. This time, he renewed calls for his usual technology-oriented solutions to climate change: coal-fired power plants that sequester carbon, an expansion of nuclear power, plus a little twist in the shape of a $2-billion international clean technology fund to “help developing nations like India and China make greater use of clean energy sources”. Not a word, as climate advocates point out, about mandatory emissions caps for the US.
Bush also called on Congress to restore funding for the American Competitiveness Initiative, a doubling of research in the physical sciences proposed in his 2006 address that got derailed late last year in last-minute budget negotiations. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has told the research community that she is still committed to these sorts of budget increases, but it remains to be seen what will happen in the next round of budget negotiations.
Finally, Bush called for a doubling of funding to fight AIDS in Africa. The $15-billion PEPFAR program would bump up to $30 billion over the next five years, if Congress approves the spending. Which may, in the end, be the most positive news for science Bush leaves behind – except, of course, that a third of PEPFAR monies must go to programs that promote abstinence, an approach public health advocates generally decry.
Image: Bush delivering State of the Union Address / White House photo