Opinion: STAT+: Don’t cut NIH and NSF budgets — let the government invest like a venture capitalist
Cutting science to fix the deficit is like burning your seed corn because you’re low on groceries. It’s fiscally shortsighted and strategically self-defeating.
Congress is floating a 40% cut to the National Science Foundation and deep reductions to the National Institutes of Health — America’s two flagship research engines. The justification? A $2 trillion deficit.
But cutting science to fix the deficit is like burning your seed corn because you’re low on groceries. It’s fiscally shortsighted and strategically self-defeating.
Here’s a better idea: Stop treating public research funding as a sunk cost. Treat it like a venture capital investment.
