"Researchers fear wallop of mandated budget cuts; Mass. would be hit hard; labs are urged to lobby" by Bobby Caina Calvan | Globe Staff, August 03, 2012
WASHINGTON —Budget cuts would devastate medical research throughout the country, particularly in Massachusetts....
The cause of the consternation is $1.2 trillion in mandated cuts over the next decade across the federal budget spectrum, a process known as sequestration that is the legacy of the budget-cutting deal last summer....
Persuading Washington to roll back the looming cuts could be particularly daunting for researchers as they compete for the ear of Congress amid the growing din, much of it emanating from defense industry boosters....
“The uncertainty is damaging. It’s damaging to your psyche,” said Phillip Sharp, a researcher and professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, “because you have a large knife hanging over your neck.”
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The fate of research funds will depend on how the political gamesmanship in Washington plays out. Democrats could allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire at the end of the year as scheduled, allowing the federal budget to recoup $3 trillion in revenues — more than enough to cover the looming cuts, although Democrats want the tax cuts to remain for those making less than $250,000 annually. It’s unlikely the matter will be resolved before the November elections.
Just think, if the Democrats had allowed them to expire as they said they would when they controlled the House and Senate years ago all this could have been avoided.
“I don’t mean to be crass about it, but my attitude is that there are a lot more constitutional responsibilities other than medical research,” said Representative Brian Bilbray, a Republican whose San Diego district includes some of the country’s biggest military bases....
Fiscal conservatives say it’s time Congress addresses what they see as bloated federal budgets. “We have a huge problem, and we need to back everyone away from the trough,” said Daniel Mitchell, an economist with the Cato Institute.
“It’s silly for anybody to make these assertions that the world is going to end” if their budgets are cut, he said....
Instead of writing scholarly papers, some researchers are penning newspaper op-eds to plead their case. Others, including MIT’s Sharp, are eschewing some lectures at scientific symposiums in favor of addressing business groups to preach about boosting one of the country’s most robust economic engines....
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Update: Threat to funds haunts Boston’s science labs
Of course, the military budget is sacrosanct:
"Pentagon urges Congress to stave off $110b in cuts" August 02, 2012
WASHINGTON — Soldiers heading to Afghanistan would receive less training while the Navy would be forced to buy fewer ships if lawmakers fail in the next five months to come up with an alternative deficit-reduction plan, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.
Imploring Congress to act, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and the White House’s acting budget chief, Jeff Zients, outlined the devastating effect on defense and domestic programs if $110 billion in across-the-board reductions begin on Jan. 2....
Compromise, however, seems highly unlikely before the November election....
Representative Randy Forbes, a Republican of Virginia, insisted that President Obama has done nothing to address the ‘‘atrocities’’ of the impending cuts....
As our courts and Congress have done nothing to address war crime atrocities committed by this government.
I'm sorry, folks, but the whole level of "debate" in this country is disgusting.
Twenty-two Republicans on the committee, including the chairman, Representative Howard ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon of California, and 18 Democrats voted for the cuts. Thirteen committee Republicans and seven Democrats, including ranking member Representative Adam Smith of Washington state, opposed them.
Raising the political stakes, Senators John McCain of Arizona, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, all Republicans, spent two days in some of the most contested presidential states warning of the impact of the cuts on local businesses and jobs.
Where was Lieberman? He finally get surgically separated from the other two?
They demanded that Obama negotiate with Republicans and Democrats to work out a solution....
Because wars are important.
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I haven't seen it in the Globe; however, I heard somewhere all the military cuts were rescinded.
