Budget cuts and actions proposed by President Trump for federal agencies will cripple US science including my field of ocean science. For example, the proposed budget reduces funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and for NASA science by more than 50%. NOAA’s research programs for weather, climate and the ocean are eliminated, as are the research programs of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For ocean sciences, these cuts seriously erode support for ocean research, operation of oceanographic ships and observing systems, and training of future generations of ocean scientists.
Scientific research is essential for our national security, economy and well-being. Many if not most economists attribute the growth and strength of the U.S. economy to innovation that comes from scientific and technological discoveries — much of it funded by the federal government. I personally heard the former Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral James Watkins, say many times that ocean research won the Cold War. The proposed cuts would end US science leadership at a time when China and other international competitors are dramatically increasing their science investments. We need “America First” for science, not “America Last.”
The proposed cuts would also have significant local impacts. Funding from NSF, NASA and NOAA support many research programs at URI including ocean research at the Narragansett Bay Campus. Some if not many of these programs would be shut down. Two federal laboratories share the Bay Campus with URI, and their important programs are threatened. EPA operates a laboratory focused on research to study the effects of human activities on our coastal waters and watersheds. Scientists at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service laboratory study the changing oceanographic and ecological conditions affecting commercial fish species inhabiting Northeast Continental Shelf waters — information that is used to help manage sustainable fisheries in our region.
The proposed budget cuts will not become law unless approved by Congress. Our RI congressional delegation will support science and will push for increases above the proposed cuts, but they will need help from their Republican colleagues. We can all participate in the effort to sustain US global science leadership by contacting our congressional delegation to encourage them to aggressively work to sustain what has long been bipartisan support of US science. For many reasons, some of which are mentioned above, that bipartisan support needs to continue, and federal science budgets need to be restored.
Jim Yoder
Kingston