May 25th, 2017
Spearheaded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 149 U.S. science, engineering, medical, health, and higher education organizations signed onto a letter urging Congress to reject the President’s proposed cuts to science in the FY 2018 appropriations bills. Although the President signaled in an earlier budget outline (called the “skinny” budget) that he would make severe cuts to some federal science agencies, the release of the full budget on Monday night confirmed the plans.
In the new detailed budget, the President proposes to cut the National Institutes of Health by 21% and the National Science Foundation by 11%. Other federal science agencies that would take a hit include EPA, NOAA, NIST, parts of DoD, NASA, and more.
The multi-organizational letter states that the “drastic cuts” in the President’s budget request “would cripple the science and technology enterprise.” It also reminded Congress that there has been bipartisan agreement on the importance of federal investments in science for over 70 years, and encouraged them to increase the discretionary spending caps to allow for these investments.
The letter was sent to House and Senate majority and minority leaders, as well as appropriations staff.
View the letter here.
