Science Issues
The Ill Effects of Flat Federal Funding
Dr. Brent Iverson, Ph.D., a member of Research Corporation's Board of Directors, recently testified before the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies.
Iverson is a Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Raymer Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin.
In his March 19 testimony, Iverson warned senators of the ill effects of flat federal funding for the National Institutes of Health over the past few years.
As noted in a recent report on the problem:
"Doubling the NIH budget between 1998 and 2003 enabled researchers to achieve historic progress. But after this great push forward, the budget stagnated. Some work has been frozen midstream, and eight out of 10 grant applications now go unfunded, according to NIH figures.
"The effects of the flat budget have been exacerbated by inflation, and together account for an 8 percent loss in purchasing power for the NIH (based on the Biomedical Research and Development Price Index). As a result, the NIH is able to buy less and less with its research dollars - constraining progress in real ways."
Iverson's testimony gave senators a sense of what the flat funding means for researchers and students, and how it could harm the technological future of the United States.
Here's his full statement, as entered into the record: More