The United States has the most dynamic private sector in the world, with entrepreneurs, investors, big companies, and capital markets all eager to license technologies and launch start-ups. Those ventures, however, are often driven by technologies that come from basic research funded by the federal government. But we’re falling behind--the Chinese Communist Party has already surpassed the U.S. in total R&D spending. We must quickly invest in American basic research and the development of technologies of the future across sectors to ensure our leadership in science—along with our national security—is not compromised.