Monday, March 05, 2007

WIRED Blogs: 27B Stroke 6:

A clutch of experts warned Congress in two House Appropriations subcommittee hearings this week that the Bush budget plan for 2008 cuts too much money from R&D funding and will impair both innovation and the nation's ability to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and combat global warming.

The Bush budget steers too much science money into weapons programs and costly manned space exploration, said Alan I. Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. According to a budget analysis the AAAS released last month, "The federal investment in basic and applied research would fall 2.0 percent from the likely 2007 total to $55.4 billion in 2008."

The drop off in climate change research funding poses a grave threat, Leshner said: "A continuing decline is, I believe, a path to disaster."


10:45 AM