AAAS and 126 partner organizations representing U.S. science, engineering, higher education and businesses today urged the White House and congressional leaders to strike a balanced compromise on the looming “fiscal cliff” that avoids harming critical research efforts.
If automatic, across-the-board “sequestration” cuts go into effect starting 2 January, their letter says, the U.S. National Institutes of Health would lose $11.3 billion over five years for research on some of the nation’s most critical medical challenges including cancer, obesity, aging, and emerging diseases. Non-defense R&D funding has already declined by 5% in the past two years, and sequestration cuts “significantly threaten” U.S. leadership in areas ranging from agriculture and national security to energy, it adds.
“Public research funding has helped plant the seeds that have spawned the Global Positioning System, the laser, Google, and countless other beneficial technologies in addition to medical advances that have helped save the lives of millions of heart disease, cancer and diabetes patients among others,” the groups wrote.
“What is needed is a balanced approach to deficit reduction that does not simply take an axe to discretionary federal programs without also considering the contributions of tax revenue solutions and entitlement reform in addressing the federal deficit….Our message is that a balanced plan must be one of shared contributions to a sound fiscal future, including strong support for our nation’s science and technology enterprise.
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