This is a critical day for U.S. fundamental, curiosity-driven research. Having failed to pass the bi-partisan proposed increases for FY07 last autumn, the 109th Congress literally passed the buck to the 110th. They threatened to respond to this mess by “skipping” FY07, funding it at the same levels as FY06, and going on with the real business of FY08. There were several dangers in this. The first is that freezing spending avoids the bi-partisan increase for basic research (14% in the DOE’s Office of Science alone, after years of cuts or flat spending that choked innovation). The second is that failed or finished projects would have continued to receive federal funds, despite the fact that nobody would be doing them anymore (very wasteful!).
Today, “the Congress takes up the proposal to reallocate within the FY06 the priorities for science, effectively delivering increases to programs without cutting or raising the overall envelope”:http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/130/1. The pie slices change size but the pie still fits in the pan. Let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best.
