PART ONE:
President Biden has presented his budget plan for the coming fiscal year and beyond. This budget comes with the specter of US defaulting on our debt for the first time ever, leading to financial disaster, should House Republicans make good on their threat. They hold the economy hostage in the cynical and false hope that the president will get the blame.
With enhanced revenues coming exclusively from the wealthiest Americans - those who have seen massive wealth growth in recent years - the president's budget proposes a 19% increase in the National Science Foundation and EPA budgets. This may sound unrealistic, but it comes after decades of decline in percentage of the budget going to basic research, while China and the EU have ramped up such investments.
NSF represents one tenth of one percent of the federal budget, yet through the years science outcomes have reaped huge rewards, ensuring international leadership in science, and future economic growth of our country. Basic research supports projects that ensure long-term and broad-based knowledge and advancement, whereas industry research demands narrow focus and short-term profitability.
NSF has just announced the elimination of a wildly successful global research program in 2024. Shutting down this program, which represents 1/2 of 1% of NSF's already small annual budget, will sideline hundreds of scientists, students, technicians and critical trades people, and will severely impact future progress in the acquisition of fundamental knowledge about our world. I'll be discussing this project in my next Perspective.
President Biden's budget, even if "dead in the water" with today's Congress, declares a dedication to US leadership in scientific research, which is the foundation of our future economic and environmental health. I ask the president to stand strong, and ask congress to grow up.
I'm Reed Scherer and that's my perspective.
