Since I am in the Washington DC area, I thought it was appropriate to write about an issue that crosses science research with the U.S. Congress. Last year, Congress passed only 2 (military & domestic security, eg. the wars in the Middle East) out of 11 spending bills, and froze the rest at 2006 levels. The new Democratic Congress has indicated it will not try and pass the bills, but instead simply sign extensions to the present budgets. The result is, of course, a reduction of funds that would have been allocated in science and space research.

The Republicans have not had a very good track record for supporting science; worse for using the results of science to make important policy decisions. The present situation is the result of a lackluster congress that was running scared about being re-elected, and forgot why they were there in the first place. Whether the Democrats do any better in supporting science, and getting off the stick and take responsbility for passing spending bills is a matter of time. We’ll be looking.

You might find it interesting to read a short article in the NYTimes describing some of the projects in science that will be eliminated or delayed because of Congress’s failed record of last year.