From the Wright brothers' Dayton-based invention of powered flight to Wapakoneta native Neil Armstrong's pioneering walk on the moon, revolutionary advances in science and technology have long had roots in the Buckeye state. The traffic light, bar code, compact disc, and office copier machine are also products of Ohio ingenuity. Today, Ohio's universities, medical centers, research institutes, and advanced manufacturing industries are essential for maintaining America's high-tech economy. Far from existing independently, this statewide engine of innovation is fueled by nearly $3 billion of federal research and development funds spent directly in Ohio each year, making Ohio the 9th largest recipient of federal R&D funding among all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This fertile bed of scientific ingenuity has helped all American prosper and paid rich dividends for Ohio families and workers, 167,000 of which are employed in high-tech jobs. Since the Second World War, technology has accounted for nearly 50% of the state's economic growth. Ohio's continuing ability to contribute to the frontiers of knowledge, and to reap the economic benefits that innovation brings, is under threat by a Bush Administration plan for science that flattens funding just as Ohio's ailing economy needs it most.

George Bush's plan for science is troubling, and Ohio stands to lose big. The Bush Administration budget requests across federal funding for non-defense research and development do not keep pace with inflation and even cut funding from key areas. As the federal dollars that fund science in Ohio are taken away or outstripped by inflation, groundbreaking research in Ohio industry and universities will be curtailed, slowing the pace of discovery, and decreasing Ohio's ability to transform its economy for the 21st Century. Cuts proposed by the administration would slash basic and applied research in the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, NASA, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, and USDA all of which underwrite significant amounts of research in Ohio.

Jobs: Keeping Pace With Change. Ohio has been hard hit by changes in the global economy. Outsourcing and the loss of manufacturing industries have cost Ohio 150,000 jobs since Bush took office. The only way forward is for Ohio to adapt by creating new jobs for the 21st Century. The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MET) is key resource for innovation that small and medium sized Ohio business can turn. Through MET existing companies are able to access expertise from over 400 centers across the nation. Since its inception, MET has assisted 149,000 firms stay competitive in the global economy, saving tens of thousands of jobs. Here in Ohio, firms like Hightech Signs in Cincinnati, the Ranpak Corporation in Concord County, and Wayne Trail Technologies in Fort Loramie have benefited from MET's expertise. MET is scheduled to be severely cut under the FY2005 Bush budget.

University Research: The Lifeblood of Innovation. Ohio's major research universities stand to lose millions of dollars in federal funds awarded in over 2, 600 grants to Ohio researchers. No campus will be left untouched. Ohio State, Case Western Reserve, the University of Cincinnati, Wright State University, the Medical College of Ohio, Ohio University, Kent State University, University of Toledo and the University of Dayton will all suffer from a reduction in the very resources students and researchers depend upon to foster the scientific advances we value so dearly. In future years, it is grants like the $400,000 awarded this year to Ohio State's Diane Foster to help design structures that survive hurricanes, or the $443,086 that Case Western Reserve University's Z. Meral Ozsoyoglu received to further develop our understanding of genomic pathways, and ultimately the genetic nature of health and disease.

Ohio's Centers of Innovation: Engines for Prosperity. Ohio's centers of higher learning and federally funded labs will not be the only victim of Bush Administration policy. In Cleveland, aerospace propulsion and robotic research at NASA's Glenn Research Center is under threat by the Bush Administration's plans for space that sacrifice critical space science research to fund human spaceflight. In Columbus, Battelle Memorial Institute-one of the largest independent research institutes in the nation-might also see a decrease in the federal funding it receives for non-defense research, placing at risk a slew of cross-cutting projects in energy and environment, the health and life sciences, and transportation.

Health, Safety & Environment: Good Government At Risk. Understanding the impact of toxic chemicals and other environmental hazards on both human health and the environment is of crucial importance. Here in Ohio, federally funded health and safety research occurs in every corner of the State. In Cincinnati, the Food and Drug Administration's Forensic Chemistry Center and a division of the EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory conduct research of the safety of food, drugs, chemicals, and occupational hazards. In Coshocton, federal researchers are learning how to better control surface runoff that can destabilize the soil base. In Beaver Creek is, engineers are developing optical sensors to measure climate change. Ecosystem management research occurs in Delaware, vehicle safety tests in East Liberty, and agriculture research in Wooster-all across the Buckeye reductions in the funding of basic and applied research threaten the ability these scientists and engineers to create safer and healthier futures for us all.

Environment: Cleaner, Greener Communities. Because of the large number of power plants, Ohio families have been especially hard hit by Bush Administration rollbacks to the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. The Bush Administration's refusal to enforce the law on existing violations to our nation's environmental laws is doing particular harm to Dayton-area residents, who are subject to the quarter-billion pounds of soot, sulfur dioxide and mercury released into the air each year by a single aging power plant run by Dayton Power and Light.

Health: Making Lifesaving Medical Advances. The Cleveland Clinic and Ohio State's James Cancer Hospital are leading centers in the fight against disease. Indeed, the first coronary angiography and coronary artery bypass-the most common heart surgery in the world-were pioneered at the Cleveland Clinic. In this time of tremendous potential for medical science, where so many fields of human medicine stand on the verge of major breakthroughs, the Bush science budget proposes cutting key areas, including basic biology research. The Bush Administration's imprudent restrictions on stem cell research also unnecessarily harm those Ohioans affected by diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and the range of other disorders and disabilities that advances in stem cell therapy may cure. The numbers of Ohioans affected by this ban are staggering. Approximately 250,000 Ohioans suffer from Alzheimer's; more than 600,000 Ohioans are living with diabetes.

Energy: Meeting Future Needs. Ohioans know first-hand the importance of modernizing our energy supply. They were the first in the country ensnared in the cascade of power failures that left half the nation in the dark during the great electricity blackout of 2003. Despite Ohio's aging power grid and increasing energy needs, the Bush Administration has bet the farm on Hydrogen technology that-if it works-won't yield benefits for over a generation. The Bush Administration lacks the vision to make Ohio more energy efficient or energy independent in the near or medium term, leaving Ohioans dependent upon Middle Eastern oil and inefficient, outdated technology.

The Need to Wire Ohio. If Bangalore, India and all of South Korea is wired with the latest broadband technologies, towns like Lima and Canton Ohio should be too. Yet the Bush Administration has been slow to recognize the fundamental importance of broadband technology and to leverage the power of the internet across rural and suburban communities.

Ohio has a choice. The Bush Administration has left the engine of Ohio's economy-and of our national prosperity-idling at a time when China, Taiwan and Europe are accelerating their drive for science and innovation. This lack of leadership is hurting Ohio now, and will hurt Ohio families and workers even more in the future. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the these cuts are being made to pay for Bush's enormous tax breaks for large corporations and a small number of wealthy taxpayers.

John Kerry knows that the scientific discoveries of today will drive the economy of tomorrow-just as the invention of electricity, the internal combustion engine, and internet drove our economies in the past. As President, John Kerry will accelerate scientific research in Ohio and across the nation by increasing funds for research across the government and by lifting Bush's restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.