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FY 1996 Science and Technology Budget - Press Briefing(4) Information technology is a priority in the FY96 budget. New information
technologies are transforming the way Americans communicate with each other, the way
businesses operate, the way we learn and the way we use our leisure time. These are key
investments for a nation whose future is tightly linked to the success of information technology.
Increased funding is requested for the High Performance Computing and
Communications program for advanced research in technologies critical to development
of the information superhighway.
We will pursue a focused initiative to develop Technologies for Education and
Training. Information technology is helping businesses become more productive and
better able to serve the needs of individual customers. But this revolution largely has bypassed
the nation's schools. This initiative will create new tools to revolutionize learning in the
information age for students and workers of all ages.
(5) Improved understanding of the environment will contribute to a healthier, safer
America and a stronger economy. $5.5 billion in funding for environment and natural
resources research is proposed in FY96, a 4% increase over FY95.
We are reinventing environmental and natural resources R&D by replacing the traditional
single issue, single agency, single discipline approach to solving environmental issues with an
integrated, interdisciplinary, multi-agency research program.
Increased funding to $192 million in FY96 for the Environmental Technology
Initiative will help create jobs in pollution-control technologies, and will decrease future
clean-up costs by avoiding pollution in the first place.
Increased research is critical to developing risk analysis tools and data, in
order to reduce risk and improve environmental decision making.
This budget puts an increased emphasis on ecological research to promote the efficient and
sustainable use of natural resources.