The resistance is working. Let me repeat that — the resistance is working. Thanks at least in part to public demonstrations, even Republicans in Congress are dragging their feet when it comes to repealing the Affordable Care Act. Now, despite Donald Trump’s (and Republicans’) anti-science rhetoric, Congress has decided to increase funding for science, not decrease it, and there’s little doubt that this was brought on by the March for Science two weekends ago.
The budget that Trump proposed in March was literally so bad for science that it sent scientists out to the streets to protest, some in fear for their jobs and others in support of general scientific literacy. His budget wanted to cut funding for the National Institutes of Health, because who needs to cure cancer?
His budget also attempted to put more of the Centers for Disease Control in the control of states, apparently because Zika carrying mosquitoes don’t cross state borders. The budget would also decimate the Department of Energy, the Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA (despite Trump wanting to send astronauts to Mars) and NOAA.
Now, Trump’s budget, like most of what he’s attempted, appears to be DOA. Thanks to the fact that a supermajority of the Senate is required to sign off on a budget, Democrats were able to wield power and they insisted that sciences are not only protected, they raised the budget for most programs.
- The National Institute of Health (NIH) has had its spending increase by $2 billion to a total of $34 billion. Trump requested this to be cut.
- NASA has been granted $19.7 billion in funding, an increase even on what Obama requested. Of this, $5.8 billion is set aside for science research, including $1.9 billion for the Earth Sciences – something Trump officials said they wanted completely defunded.
- $37 million has been given to NASA’s STEM programs and outreach, with $100 million total going towards educational programs, something Trump also wished, and still wishes, to cut by 2018.
- The National Science Foundation (NSF), the largest federal fund for science and academia, has been given $7.5 billion, a slight increase from 2016’s budget.
- The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has been given $1.09 billion, a slight increase from 2016. Trump wanted to cut this by 10 percent.
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which faced a 31 percent cut by this year or the next, has only had its funding cut by 1 percent.
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been given $3.5 billion
- Renewable energies and clean energy research funding have been boosted by $17 million.
Source: IFL Science
The scientific community is cautiously optimistic.
A first cut at nominal #science & tech budget numbers in the FY17 omnibus. Almost complete departure from what POTUS was seeking. pic.twitter.com/uiwsiwGR6D
— Matt Hourihan (@MattHourihan) May 1, 2017
As a reminder and contrast, here’s some of what POTUS wanted to see. #Science #omnibus pic.twitter.com/ICWtk785Xv
— Matt Hourihan (@MattHourihan) May 1, 2017
This isn’t a final deal yet. The funding bill will only get us through September, if it’s approved on May 5th.
Featured image of Donald Trump via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | Featured image of woman protesting via Sarah Morris/Getty Images.
