US Federal Budget Proposal Cuts Science Funding (washingtonpost.com)

hey! writes: The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has released a budget "blueprint" which outlines substantial cuts in both basic research and applied technology funding. The proposal includes a whopping 18% reduction in National Institutes of Health medical research. NIH does get a new $500 million fund to track emerging infectious agents like Zika in the U.S., but loses its funding to monitor those agents overseas. The Department of Energy's research programs also get an 18% cut in research, potentially affecting basic physics research, high energy physics, fusion research, and supercomputing. Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) gets the ax, as does the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program, which enabled Tesla to manufacture its Model S sedan. EPA loses all climate research funding, and about half the research funding targeted at human health impacts of pollution. The Energy Star program is eliminated; Superfund funding is drastically reduced. The Chesapeake Bay and Great Lakes cleanup programs are also eliminated, as is all screening of pesticides for endocrine disruption. In the Department of Commerce, Sea Grant is eliminated, along with all coastal zone research funding. Existing weather satellites GOES and JPSS continue funding, but JPSS-3 and -4 appear to be getting the ax. Support for transfer of federally funded research and technology to small and mid-sized manufacturers is eliminated. NASA gets a slight trim, and a new focus on deep space exploration paid for by an elimination of Earth Science programs. You can read more about this "blueprint" in Nature, Science, and the Washington Post, which broke the story. The Environmental Protection Agency, the State Department and Agriculture Department took the hardest hits, while the Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Veterans Affairs have seen their budgets grow.

Comments

Re: Morons are running the USA

[meta-monkey]

Handle those matters by suing the other state or the responsible parties for damages.

The EPA hasn't really been about "clean water" or "clean air" for a long time.

Re: Morons are running the USA

[meta-monkey]

Damages. "They did thing X which cost me $Y. Give money pls." That's how civil lawsuits work.

In reality, most states already regulate themselves pretty well, and cutting EPA funding for more climate change research (what's to research? It's already settled science!) will have no effect. Water will stay clean, air will stay fresh, fewer industries will be crushed by pointless over-regulation, more folk in flyover country will have jobs and feel better about the state of the country come 2020, Trump will be re-elected, and you will remain eternally assblasted for all time.