Nurturing technology

1. What policies will you support to ensure that America remains the world leader in innovation?

John McCain: Nurturing technology and innovation is essential for solving the critical problems facing our country: Developing alternative fuels, addressing climate change, encouraging commercialization of new technologies, deploying technology to manage cost and enable new jobs, stopping the spiraling expense of health care, and better educating our children and our workforce.

As president, I will:


• Appoint a science and technology adviser within the White House to ensure that the role of science and technology in policies is fully recognized and leveraged, that policies will be based upon sound science, and that the scientific integrity of federal research is restored.


• Eliminate wasteful earmarks in order to allocate funds for science and technology investments.


• Fund basic and applied research in new and emerging fields such as nanotechnology and biotechnology, and in greater breakthroughs in information technology.


• Ensure U.S. leadership in space by promoting an exploration agenda that will combine the discoveries of our unmanned probes with new technologies to take Americans to the moon, Mars and beyond.

Barack Obama: We will increase support for high-risk, high-payoff research portfolios at our science agencies. And we will invest in the breakthrough research we need to meet our energy challenges and to transform our defense programs.

A vigorous research-and-development program depends on encouraging talented people to enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and giving them the support they need to reach their potential. My administration will work to guarantee to students access to strong science curriculum at all grade levels so they graduate knowing how science works - using hands-on, IT-enhanced education.

As president, I will launch a Service Scholarship program that pays undergraduate- or graduate-teaching education costs for those who commit to teaching in a high-need school, and I will prioritize math and science teachers. Additionally, my proposal to create Teacher Residency Academies will also add 30,000 new teachers to high-need schools - training thousands of science and math teachers.

2. The Earth's climate is changing, and there is concern about the potentially adverse effects of these changes on life on the planet. What is your position . . . to address global climate change?

McCain: The facts of global warming demand our urgent attention, especially in Washington. Good stewardship, prudence, and simple commonsense demand that we act to meet the challenge, and act quickly.

To dramatically reduce carbon emissions, I will institute a new cap-and-trade system that over time will change the dynamic of our energy economy. We will transition into a low-carbon energy future while promoting the technological innovations that keep us on a course of economic growth. The purpose of this approach is to give American businesses new incentives and rewards to seek cheaper emission reductions instead of just new taxes to pay and new regulations to follow. I further propose we inspire the ingenuity and resolve of the American people by offering a $300 million prize for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.

Obama: This is a global problem. U.S. leadership is essential, but solutions will require contributions from all parts of the world - particularly the rest of the world's major emitters: China, Europe and India. Specifically, I will implement a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary: 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. I will start reducing emissions immediately by establishing strong annual reduction targets with an intermediate goal of reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

A cap-and-trade program draws on the power of the marketplace to reduce emissions in a cost-effective and flexible way. I will require all pollution credits to be auctioned.

I will restore U.S. leadership in strategies for combating climate change and work closely with the international community. We will re-engage with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, the main international forum dedicated to addressing the climate change problem.

3. A comparison of 15-year-olds in 30 wealthy nations found that average science scores among U.S. students ranked 17th, while average U.S. math scores ranked 24th. What role do you think the federal government should play in preparing K-12 students for the science- and technology-driven 21st century?

McCain: I believe that education is an ongoing process. Thus our nation's education system should not only focus on graduating new students, we must also help retrain displaced workers as they prepare for the rapidly evolving economy.

Invigorating our community-college system is a good place to start. For example, recognizing this, I have long supported grants for educational instruction in digital and wireless technologies targeted to minorities and low-income students who may not otherwise be exposed to these fields.

The diminishing number of science, technology, engineering and math graduates at the college level poses a fundamental and immediate threat to American competitiveness. We must fill the pipeline to our colleges and universities with students prepared for the rigors of advanced engineering, math, science and technology degrees.

Obama: First, I have proposed programs that, taken together, will increase federal investment in the clean-energy research, development and deployment by $150 billion over 10 years. This research will cover:


• Basic research to develop alternative fuels and chemicals.


• New vehicle technologies capable of significantly reducing our oil consumption.


• Advanced energy storage and transmission that would greatly help the economics of new electric-generating technologies and plug-in hybrids.


• Technologies for capturing and sequestering greenhouse gases produced by coal plants.


• A new generation of nuclear-electric technologies that address cost, safety, waste disposal and proliferation risks.

Second, it is essential that we create a strong, predictable market for energy innovations with concrete goals that speed introduction of innovative products and provide a strong incentive for private R&D investment in energy technologies.

4. What is your position on government regulation and funding of stem-cell research?

McCain: While I support federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research . . . I believe that recent scientific breakthroughs raise the hope that one day this debate will be rendered academic. I also support funding for other research programs, including amniotic fluid and adult stem-cell research which hold much scientific promise and do not involve the use of embryos.

I oppose the intentional creation of human embryos for research purposes, and I voted to ban the practice of "fetal farming," making it a federal crime for researchers to use cells or fetal tissue from an embryo created for research purposes.

Obama: Stem-cell research holds the promise of improving our lives in at least three ways - by substituting normal cells for damaged cells to treat diabetes, Parkinson's disease, spinal-cord injury, heart failure and other disorders; by providing scientists with safe and convenient models of disease for drug development; and by helping to understand fundamental aspects of normal development and cell dysfunction.

For these reasons, I strongly support expanding research on stem cells. As president, I will lift the current administration's ban on federal funding of research on embryonic-stem-cell lines created after Aug. 9, 2001 through executive order.

I recognize that some people object to government support of research that requires cells to be harvested from human embryos. However, hundreds of thousands of embryos stored in the U.S. in in-vitro fertilization clinics will not be used for reproductive purposes and will eventually be destroyed. I believe that it is ethical to use these extra embryos for research that could save lives when they are freely donated for that express purpose.

5. How will you balance scientific information with politics and personal beliefs in your decision making?

McCain: We have invested huge amounts of public funds in scientific research. The public deserves to have the results of that research. Our job as elected officials is to develop the policies in response to those research results.

I believe policy should be based upon sound science. Good policy development will make for good politics. I support having a science-and-technology adviser within the White House staff and restoring the credibility and role of OSTP as an office within the White House structure.

Obama: I am committed to creating a transparent and connected democracy, using cutting-edge technologies to provide a new level of transparency, accountability, and participation for America's citizens. Policies must be determined using a process that builds on the long tradition of open debate that has characterized progress in science, including review by individuals who might bring new information or contrasting views.