Yesterday, CEO Council staff traveled to Washington, D.C. accompanied by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a member organization of the CEO Council, to meet with members of Congress and the Administration to discuss the importance of federal funding for research. The effort was part of the national Business for Federal Research Funding (BFRF) Coalition, a broad-based coalition of business associations that advocate for increased research funding in the federal budget and bring heightened awareness to the critical economic impact that federal research funding has on the nation’s competitiveness.

With the Fiscal Year 2019 appropriations process now underway, the CEO Council is actively urging Congressional Members and their staff to continue supporting critical research accounts in the FY19 budget while also conveying a message of gratitude for the increase in spending for these accounts in the recent FY18 Omnibus Appropriations package.

Coalition members engaged in a series of meetings with members of Congress, including meetings with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA); Senator Ed Markey (D-MA); Dr. Walter Copan, Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Dr. Frances Córdova, Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF); Staff from the Office of Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer; Senator Richard Shelby (R-Al), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations; and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

The federal government provides nearly 60 percent of funding for basic scientific research, funding that has played a major role in significant scientific breakthroughs and new technologies. This activity produces innovations that are at the root of countless companies, products, and jobs.