During a town hall meeting in Oregon on May 10, Barack Obama was asked how he would fund the America COMPETES Act. (Creating Opportunities To Meaningfully Promote Excellence In Technology, Education, And Science)

"It will be fully funded because it will be one of my top priorities, one of my top budget priorities and as president I will craft a budget that on the top line includes all the funding for these efforts," he said. "And the nice thing is that, there're really, although the administration is not a science booster, there are members of the Republican Party who are.

I mean that was a bipartisan bill. Lamar Alexander was deeply involved in it, Republican from Tennessee and you've got a business community, many of whom are Republicans who recognize that if we are not generating the numbers of scientists and engineers then we are going to fall behind."

A summary of the America COMPETES Act can be found here.