PASADENA, Calif. – President Bill Clinton proposed Friday a $2.8-billion increase in science and technology spending in his fiscal 2001 budget, a boost that could bode well for NASA funding.

Speaking at the California Institute of Technology – which manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on NASA’s behalf – Clinton said new investments in science and technology would continue to drive what will become next month the longest economic expansion the United States has ever experienced.

"Scientists and engineers are on a high today," said Rita Colwell, director of the National Science Foundation, which stands to receive a $675-million funding increase under the Clinton proposal.

"What makes up the missing mass of the universe? What's in those black holes, anyway? And maybe the biggest question of all: How in the wide world can you add $3 billion in market capitalization simply by adding 'dot-com' to the endof a name?"
     

Clinton will unveil his entire proposed fiscal 2001 budget on Feb. 7. On Friday, he hinted it would contain a "major increase" for space exploration.

"Are we alone in the universe?" asked a jovial Clinton, as he rattled off several reasons for continued space exploration. "What causes gamma-ray bursts? What makes up the missing mass of the universe? What's in those black holes, anyway? And maybe the biggest question of all: How in the wide world can you add $3 billion in market capitalization simply by adding ‘dot-com’ to the end of a name?"

"I think you will be pleased when he rolls out his whole science budget," Lane said. "Space science will receive particular attention."

The increase bodes well for NASA's budget, which has languished for the last decade. Last summer the House Veterans Administration, Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee voted to slash 29 percent from the agency's space science budget.

The drastic cut, most of which was later restored, would have hit JPL especially hard, prompting at the time talk of closing the Pasadena laboratory.

Ed Stone, director of JPL, said he was hopeful that the proposed budget for fiscal year 2001 would mark a turnaround for NASA. The agency saw its budget shrink throughout the 1990s.

"Anytime there is an emphasis on science and technology it bodes well for all of science and technology, including NASA," Stone said. "I guess we will have to wait and see what happens on Feb. 7 though."

Caltech President David Baltimore said he thought there was an increased understanding in Washington that it would take more money – and time – to further NASA’s goal of exploring Mars and other planets, most of which is done by JPL. NASA suffered a $328-million setback when it lost the Mars Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander last year.

"Everything we have heard indicates that the government recognizes it will take more resources to do what we want to do in terms of Mars exploration," Baltimore said. "That will probably mean stretching things out over time."

Clinton’s remarks on Friday focused mainly on biomedical, information technology, energy and university-based research.

However, he also announced a $227-million increase in federal funding of research into nanotechnology, which NASA would share. That would include development of new materials 10 times stronger than steel – but only a fraction of the weight, which could make spacecraft lighter and more fuel-efficient.

NASA would also share in the proposed $605-million boost in information technology research and development funding.