Also in this week's C&EN, an article summarizing the Trump Administration's proposed budget from Jessica Morrison and Britt Erickson:
The proposed cuts include EPA (-31%), USDA (-21%), HHS/NIH (-18%), DOE (-6%) and NASA (-1%.) The Chemical Safety Board is eliminated.
Readers, rather than discuss the benefits (or lack thereof) of this budget, what do you predict the ultimate funding cuts or increases to the various government agencies will be? Do you predict the elimination of the Chemical Safety Board by Congress?
My predictions: EPA budget will definitely sustain 10+% cuts. NIH will be kept flat, CSB will not be eliminated, but will be kept flat. Yours?
President Donald J. Trump’s proposed fiscal 2018 budget would slash federal support for biomedical research, defund the U.S. Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) and the Department of Energy’s advanced energy research, and lop funding for EPA by nearly a third.
Overall, the White House plan would offset discretionary funding increases for the military, homeland security, and veterans affairs in part with steep cuts to environmental, energy, and health agencies.
In addition, the budget blueprint unveiled on March 16 would restart funding for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., and calls for $120 million to restart licensing of the facility. It also proposes a $1.4 billion increase—an 11% boost—for DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration to “strengthen the Nation’s nuclear capability.”
In response, the American Chemical Society, which publishes C&EN, called for federal science funding stability. “Sustained, predictable and robust funding is an essential ingredient in boosting our nation’s future in the form of discoveries, processes and knowledge, all of which lead to new products, services, industries and jobs,” says ACS Executive Director and CEO Thomas Connelly...Read the whole article for details.
The proposed cuts include EPA (-31%), USDA (-21%), HHS/NIH (-18%), DOE (-6%) and NASA (-1%.) The Chemical Safety Board is eliminated.
Readers, rather than discuss the benefits (or lack thereof) of this budget, what do you predict the ultimate funding cuts or increases to the various government agencies will be? Do you predict the elimination of the Chemical Safety Board by Congress?
My predictions: EPA budget will definitely sustain 10+% cuts. NIH will be kept flat, CSB will not be eliminated, but will be kept flat. Yours?
CJ,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assessments. Any government department that makes regulations that may negatively affect profits can expect cuts.
Who knows with this congress... Also that is a disappointing yet characteristically weak response from the ACS. Glad I didn't renew my membership.
ReplyDeleteThe Trump skinny budget was silent on NSF. At DOE, increases in weapons and waste management, congressional protection of most of the labs, and good 'ol Texas fossil fuel priorities will combine in a perfect storm to cut university grant support.
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