{"id":1160,"date":"2013-08-15T13:37:18","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T18:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/?p=1160"},"modified":"2014-04-16T12:06:30","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T17:06:30","slug":"moved-more-sequester-damage-americas-scientific-preeminence-threatened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/moved-more-sequester-damage-americas-scientific-preeminence-threatened\/","title":{"rendered":"More Sequester Damage: America’s Scientific Preeminence Threatened"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"More evidence today from Jonathan Cohn<\/a> on the damage being done by the GOP’s reckless use of the sequester to address the deficit (mostly a non-problem, which by the way is shrinking rapidly<\/a>, though they won’t<\/a> admit it<\/a>). \u00a0Cohn cites the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, whose most recent piece was on the effects of the sequester on scientific research<\/a>. \u00a0For instance, …<\/p>\n

NIH underwrites about a quarter of all biomedical research in the U.S., making it the single largest financier of such research in the country\u2014and the world. … Now, thanks to sequestration, it\u2019s losing money and, as a result, funding fewer programs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That lack of funding results in lines of research and development deferred, abandoned or foregone, and American competitiveness and innovation suffer as a result. \u00a0Lots of details in Cohn’s piece<\/a>, but here’s his conclusion:<\/p>\n

Today, the U.S. a world leader<\/a> in innovation. That attracts capital and talent. But the U.S. advantage may not be permanent. As the Economist<\/em><\/a> noted back in the spring, \u201cThese cuts will speed the erosion of American supremacy in research. In December Battelle, a research group, predicted that China would surpass America\u2019s spending by 2023. Thanks to the sequester, that date may come earlier.\u201d Mary Woolley, president and CEO at ResearchAmerica<\/a>, has similar thoughts. \u201cAs other countries aggressively ramp up investments in research and development, taking a page from our playbook, we are funding lifesaving research in fits and starts,\u201d she says. \u201cIf federal funding continues to decline, our leadership status in the short-term will be tenuous at best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the most serious long-term impact may be on the science itself\u2014on chemical pathways not discovered, mathematical models not perfected, and (for medicine) treatments not developed. We won\u2019t feel the effects for many years. But, by then, it will be too late to reverse.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These insane Republicans are eating our seed corn!<\/p>\n