Congress Rejects Cuts to NIH Budget, Increases Budget by 2B$

[Lucca]

The New Congressional Budget Deal Rejects Trump's Cuts to NIH

"With the release of their budget agreement for 2017, lawmakers have demonstrated how little they cared for the administration’s plans for NIH. The omnibus, which spells out funding between now and the end of this fiscal year, allocates an additional $2 billion to the agency. That figure represents a rebuke of the president’s cuts. But it also lets lawmakers continue to do what they wanted all along: to replace a recent pattern of boom-and-bust funding with steady funding increases year after year."

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/how-science-fares-us-budget-deal

"Flouting the wishes of the Trump administration, Congress last night approved a $2 billion increase for NIH for fiscal year 2017—the second year in a row that the agency has grown by that amount after more than a decade of stagnant budgets. The Trump administration had proposed cutting NIH’s budget by about $1 billion this year, as part of a proposal to pay for defense spending increases by cutting domestic programs."

Figured this was big enough news to warrant a new thread separate from the doomsday thread a while back

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[gbwillner]

Is this a step in the right direction, or merely a temporary reprieve from the continuing erosion of government-supported scientific innovation?

 

[wholeheartedly]

Is this a step in the right direction, or merely a temporary reprieve from the continuing erosion of government-supported scientific innovation?

unfortunately the later. at least for as long as it takes to become obviously and disasterously apparentthat perhaps cutting science isn't an smart move. Then the pendulum will start swinging back the other way. But not likely before we hit rock bottom.

 

[gbwillner]

unfortunately the later. at least for as long as it takes to become obviously and disasterously apparentthat perhaps cutting science isn't an smart move. Then the pendulum will start swinging back the other way. But not likely before we hit rock bottom.

If 5-7% funding rates at the NCI isn't rock bottom, then we are screwed.

 

[Neuronix]

I'm pretty sure we're already screwed--at least as far as being a physician-SCIENTIST is concerned.

Even at 10% funding rates, good luck as a new investigator.

 

[Lucca]

I should've just become a banker and used my massive wealth to build a castle and pay scientists to work in my basement like in the good old days. It's basically the same thing as being a PI, but your funding source is always secure.

 

[Fencer]

You can also become department chair and do almost the same...

 

[wholeheartedly]

I should've just become a banker and used my massive wealth to build a castle and pay scientists to work in my basement like in the good old days. It's basically the same thing as being a PI, but your funding source is always secure.

I was actually planning on doing a modern version of this when I win the lottery. Seriously, I have actual plans for this. It's kinda sad.

(although in my defense, I also have plans for an Aston Martin too )

 

[GadRads]

I should've just become a banker and used my massive wealth to build a castle and pay scientists to work in my basement like in the good old days. It's basically the same thing as being a PI, but your funding source is always secure.

David E Shaw did something similar. D. E. Shaw Research

 

[Lucca]

Trump budget would slash science programmes across government

"Hello Darkness my old friend...."

This is the budget plan from the White House for FY 2018. The last budget cuts were rejected for FY 2017. This time around, there is again 18% of the NIH budget on the chopping block. Instead of negotiating rates for administrative costs and overheads with each IC, White House wants one flat rate for all ICs.

Some money is included (about 400 million total) for several research initiatives, including BRAIN, the Precision Medicine Initiative, and the establishment of a National Institute for Safety and Quality (heretofore the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) which would be eliminated)