Clinton Boosts Infotech Budget

President Clinton is proposing a 36 percent hike in research and development funding for information technology in fiscal 2001.

The Clinton administration's formal budget request, scheduled for release Feb. 7, includes $2.3 billion in funding for IT research spread among seven federal departments and agencies, up from $1.7 billion in 2000.

"When I became president, there were only 50 sites on the World Wide Web. There are now over 50 million," Clinton said in a Jan. 21 speech at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.

In releasing the administration's IT spending plans, White House officials noted that more than a third of all U.S. economic growth since 1995 has resulted from IT enterprises. More than 13 million Americans today hold IT-related jobs, which are being created six times faster than the rate of overall job growth.

The president's budget request, which must be approved by Congress, seeks IT research and development funding of $740 million for the National Science Foundation, $667 million for the Department of Energy and $350 million for the Department of Defense.