Amidst ongoing budget brinkmanship in Washington, House and Senate panels have proposed significant cuts in federal funding for basic scientific research. That would be a grave mistake for our nation’s long-term economic success.
President Biden’s 2024 budget proposal maintained the current funding level for the National Institutes of Health and proposed a small boost for the National Science Foundation (NSF). Yet under recent congressional proposals, NIH funding would be significantly reduced — and NSF funding will fall to its lowest level in more than 30 years.
Far from reducing the debt burden, cuts to federal funding contribute to it by diminishing the fund of new knowledge that drives economic growth.
The for-profit private sector has the ability and incentive to take basic research and turn it into useful products — from…
