Dr. Charles M. Vest

America's "Spectacular successes" in science and technology are in danger of being undermined by proposed federal budget cuts in civilian research, warned the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in an NPC luncheon address July 18, 1995. Dr. Charles M. Vest said that under current budget proposals to reduce research by more than one third "we are in danger of disinvesting in our future. The cost of doing so...and of drifting toward mediocrity in science, technology and advanced education is simply too great to pay." Vest said the issue at hand "transcends partisan politics. It is whether Washington decision-makers have the political will and vision to serve society's long-term need for new knowledge...and, above all, for superbly educated young men and women." Vest said the federal government is rightly concerned about the budget deficit but "these decisions have to be based on a vision of the future and on an understanding of what hangs in the balance." National Press Club Record , Volume XLV, No. 28. July 27, 1995.

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