The Science Coalition remains very concerned about the impact the indiscriminate spending cuts required by the sequester will have on scientific research if it is not repealed completely. The two- month delay and lower caps on discretionary spending only perpetuate the negative impact on science funding. We urge members of the 113th Congress to act quickly to find deficit reduction solutions that do not disproportionately affect scientific research. The Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 already placed mandatory caps on discretionary spending to achieve about $1 trillion in savings over the next decade. This is the part of the federal budget that funds scientific research. This is also the part of the budget that would be targeted, again, under the sequester, dealing a devastating blow to research funding. The Science Coalition, along with the Association of American Universities and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, recently launched a website, www.ScienceWorksForUS.org, that illustrates the role of research in spurring the economy and the cuts to funding for academic research in every state that would result from the sequester. It is essential that the United States put in place a long-term plan to reduce our budget deficits without undermining wise investments such as federally-funded research, which account for a very small portion of the nation’s total budget while providing extraordinary dividends for the nation’s economy. Since World War II, federally-supported science-driven innovation has fueled as much as half of all economic growth in the United States.

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