PRESIDENT TRUMP PROPOSES STEEP, DEVASTATING CUTS TO SCIENCE AGENCIES
12 February 2018
Washington, D.C.—The following statement is attributable to American Geophysical Union (AGU) Executive Director/CEO Chris McEntee:
President Trump’s proposed budget ignores the valuable role science agencies play in nearly every facet of American life. The proposal provides a steep increase in military spending and infrastructure but saddles federal scientific agencies with extremely damaging cuts. What the President’s budget fails to recognize is that these agencies provide much of the technical expertise needed to help realize his Administration’s policy priorities.
When we underfund or cut funding to science agencies and their programs, the implications reach far beyond the agencies themselves and the scientific enterprise. Data and applied research from science agencies like NASA and NOAA are critical to U.S. military operations and defense-related systems. Scientific research helps to create infrastructure that is sustainable and effective, and with the release of such a large infrastructure plan that invests trillions in America’s roads and bridges, we need a budget proposal that will ultimately protect that infrastructure from long-term impacts like climate change. We’re discouraged to see yet another White House proposal that indicates either the Administration’s continued lack of understanding about the crucial benefits scientific research provides to Americans or worse, their persistent disregard of the value of science to society.
We recognize that Congress ultimately sets the budget through the appropriations process and we call on members of Congress to set funding levels for science agencies that reflect their important research and programs, and provide funding that will move American innovation forward.
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My take: I’m a fan of science, no, let me qualify that. I’m a fan of QUALITY science. Science done correctly, without an agenda, without politics, and without the need to drive the next funding cycle.
A lot of this reduction is driven by Trump (and many others) getting fed up with science trying to blame just about everything on the universal boogeyman, climate change.
Just like the stock market recently, I see this as a correction for government funded science that has become bloated. We’ve traded quantity for quality. And. there’s a lot of redundancy.
A little bird told me that NASA GISS / GISTEMP might be on the chopping block since it’s clearly redundant, and alarmist, just recycling NOAA data by applying their own special sauce. I might have had something to do with that. We can all live happily and productively without NASA GISTEMP, but NOAA as an agency actually does provide useful things in Americans daily lives; such as our daily weather forecasts, weather warnings, etc. NASA GISTEMP, not so much.
President Eisenhower was prescient in this issue of science and government funding:
“Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
“In this revolution, research has become central, it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
“Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
“The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded.
“Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
“It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system – ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society. — President Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 17, 1961 [Boldface added.]
“….we need a budget proposal that will ultimately protect that infrastructure from long-term impacts like climate change.”
Full Stop! No more! Cut off all funding for Climate Change Chimera! Continue funding for basic atmospheric and geophysical sciences only. American Geophysical Union (AGU) Executive Director/CEO Chris McEntee must be a ‘slow learner’…. or a willing recipient of the filthy lucre generated by ‘climate change’ fear mongering.
‘Climate Change’ is not a USA budget priority, anymore than ‘Orbital Change’ or ‘Plate Tectonics Change’ need to be. Mankind has become an evolutionary success because we were forced to adapt to and thrive on a world subject to continual climate, tectonic and orbital changes.
We can’t control the global climates. We can’t control plate tectonics. We can’t control the variations in eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession of the Earth’s orbit. We can ‘adapt and thrive’. It’s why we’re alive!
The waste in the Green Programs is totally astonishing.
Wasting Other People’s Money; Renewable Energy Jobs at $60 Million Each
Unfortunately, that headline isn’t a joke, and it highlights the obscene amount of waste involved in Green Energy. There are infinitely better uses for those public dollars, but because of the epically misguided green lobby, money is poured down the green rat hole with absolutely zero benefits to show. “The Clare Solar Farm stands to get … Continue reading
https://co2islife.wordpress.com/2017/11/18/wasting-other-peoples-money-renewable-energy-jobs-at-60-million-each/
“I’m a fan of science… without an agenda, without politics…”
Redundancy is a very real aspect of current funding waste. The “deplorables”, with their crumbs, understand unnecessary duplication. Does anyone have a list or reference that provides all of the computer centres and related climate science hubs that run models? Trump could use this as an example of waste. The warmistas have had 30 years of free play and gotten nowhere. It is time to sort out both the models themselves and any need for more – very expensive- resources for modelling efforts.
Sort out the models Who are you trying to fool?. The climate models will never be correct. A supercomputer the size of the universe would never be able to properly model our earths system. It is just too complex.
The bass-akwards economics of “Green Energy” is that there are more jobs in Green Energy than in fossil fuels. Like that is a good thing! Who are these idiots?
I say we should hook up treadmills to the windmills and put the Greenies to work making power that is at least more reliable than wind and solar. They can pedal all night and on days when the wind doesn’t blow. For $.07 kw.
CD in Wisconsin …. Plus many, many!
John Harmsworth …. I love yr idea, compounded with mine for the enforced diaspora of intellectuals to the rice-paddies (Mao) and the fields (Pol Pot). Get CAGW so-called Scientists, to *productive* work … such as electricity generation by treadmill. MannPower???? That would take the self-satisfied grin off his face in short-order. Gormless…. ditto!!!
“Like that is a good thing!”
If it was a good thing I’d like it. Only an idiot wouldn’t – like a good thing – right?
(I did say if).
Rudi.
Eisenhower’s farewell speech comes to mind with this:
“Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central, it also becomes more formalized complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present–and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.”
–Farewell Address
Dwight David Eisenhower
Science has been my career and life. It scares me that it has been corrupted by those who are tied to an agenda rather than the pursuit of truth. “Studies” based on falsified models that indicate fat people cause more global warming or globul warming causes women to become prostitutes is useless nonsense and cutting funds for this Cr*P is appropriate and necessary. There is legitimate research that needs to be done, even when is sounds odd but still needs to be funded. Those promoting science Cr@p need to be eliminated from the money flow. Sorry, I had to do a rant.
Thank you Dan.
Well put.
The ‘publish or perish’ standard of science must be obliterated as it has done immeasurable damage to science in general. The universities and others have milked the system for years and will now be under pressure to maintain their obese bureaucracies through good science reputations.
What was that famous refrain we hear repeatedly from the last administration, “Elections have consequences”. Seems they do!
Time for some AGU bake sales and lemonade stands. Or maybe go high tech with GoFundMe.
Any budget cuts are met with the gnashing of teeth by those with vested interests in those budgets. Often this even happens when the budgets simply aren’t increased “enough.”
Somehow, I get the feeling that the Executive Director’s use of the word, “science”, stands for “climate science”, and he is using the general word to express his own interests in the specific area he really has in mind but not saying outright.
I really like cake. I want a piece of cake. Funding of cake is being drastically slashed, which means less cake for me. I, thus, complain that there is a serious oversight in slashing funding for FOOD.
“When we underfund or cut funding to science agencies and their programs, the implications reach far beyond the agencies themselves and the scientific enterprise. Data and applied research from science agencies like NASA and NOAA are critical to U.S. military operations and defense-related systems”
Sounds like a reason to focus.
An attempt to insert politicised, infiltrated climate science into the same class as all science and science agencies. Nice try.
Too much of science has been taken over by people with a leftist agenda. Academic scientists are so predominantly leftist that it is hard to regard them as anything more than just another political pressure group. Legitimate science will pay a price for its one sided politics.
As they should. Just as the NFL, so called “MSM”, and some in the entertainment industry are or will pay a price.
Couldn’t help but notice watching Chole Kim on the podium receiving her well earned Olympic Gold the commentator mentioning that you see no Olympic athletes or anyone else from any other country kneeling during the National Anthem.
Kids like Kim and Gerard give me hope for the future of my country just like some young troops did when I was an older one.
Welcome and overdue. Draining the climate swamp is easy compared to DoJ scandal and DC swamp. Just remove the CAGW ‘settled science yet more research’ dollars, and the CAGW swamp critters rapidly starve to death and are gone. We just have to ignore (schadenfreud) their starving mewlings. I got a quality set of reality earplugs to block their mewlings. And this is thier beginning mewling.
I won’t be losing sleep over budget cuts to a politically biased science department. I’d rather have a strong military than a bunch of arrogant left wing scientists telling me that I’m destroying the planet. God bless Trump!
What could possibly go wrong?
The fake Russia story has servered at least one purpose . Destroyed most of the media’s credibility .
The cuts to “science ” and rent seekers will have a cooling effect on the fraud we have been subject to for over 20 years . Another bonus thanks to President Trump .
When ‘science’ gets political, politics will get ‘science’.
Let those that have ears, hear.
I said to myself in 1992 that green-house theory + UN + media would seriously damage the role and reputation of science for a generation.
Worse than I thought.
“Science is settled” So why spend any more money
The Climate Industrial Complex…….is being dismantled
“Nothing diminishes the inherent integrity of the human spirit more than the subversion of science by political servitude.” Time to hit the reset button in ALL of science research.
Governments have paid for junk science for centuries.
Kepler had determined that planetary orbits were elliptical, but his government paid him for casting horoscopes. One of his teachers was forced to lecture that the solar system revolved around the Earth.
In the 1570s, a very powerful bank published a “newsletter”. One edition reviewed the nonsense that only governments funded alchemists. Today’s equivalent is interventionist economists and central banking, promising something for nothing.
Bob Hoye
“I’m a fan of QUALITY science. Science done correctly, without an agenda, without politics, and without the need to drive the next funding cycle.”
Exactly. Where is that me too hash tag?
About GISS, I ceased since some time to take their temp graph seriously once I saw how they treat their historical data.
(insert here some blinking charts from Steven that so nicely depict what GISS does)
https://realclimatescience.com/?s=GISS
That is not science. If it is really terminated, they richly deserved it.