Nelson-Collins Amendment Might remove NSF money
A bipartisan group trying to trim money from the stimulus would cut NASA fund in half and eliminate NSF funds, according to an early draft document of the amendment floating around yesterday.
The cut list is evolving:
“It’s very difficult, because everyone has certain pet programs in this bill,” said Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the leader of the Republican faction in the bipartisan group.
You can express your opinion on the funding of NASA and NSF in the stimulus bill by calling your Senators’ offices.
Update The Information and Technology and Innovation foundation has shown (PDF link) the impact that investment in basic sciences has on job creation. $20 billion in research infrastructure will produce 402,000 jobs, according to ITIF.
From the comments, AAS Executive officer Kevin Marvel writes:
Tags: NASA, NSF, Senate, stimulusContacts to the Hill at any time are very useful, at a time like now, they can be extremely useful. When members contact the hill, be sure to let them know who you are, where you work, how many grad students or postdocs you support and, most importantly, that you support increases to agencies that support research like DoE, NSF and NASA. A good argument can be made that these investments have a big impact on our country’s long term economic success.
Look for an action alert from the AAS in the coming weeks as the final negotiations on the stimulus bill take plac
Contacts to the Hill at any time are very useful, at a time like now, they can be extremely useful. When members contact the hill, be sure to let them know who you are, where you work, how many grad students or postdocs you support and, most importantly, that you support increases to agencies that support research like DoE, NSF and NASA. A good argument can be made that these investments have a big impact on our country’s long term economic success.
Look for an action alert from the AAS in the coming weeks as the final negotiations on the stimulus bill take place.