Last year, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives by promising to slash federal spending. Science, especially funding for climate change studies and applied energy technologies, was expected to be a prime target. Yet 1 year later, the budgets of most research agencies are largely intact. What's more, science has done better than most of the rest of the federal budget.
This week, we'll look at why that happened. Our panelists will be two veterans of the federal science policy wars. We'll also talk about what's in store for next year, when a budget agreement struck last summer is supposed to take a $900-billion bite out of both civilian and military spending. And we'll gaze into our crystal ball for signs of any improvements to the current tortured system of annual appropriations that might make it more responsive to the needs of the country.
Join us for a live chat at 3 p.m. EST on Thursday, 5 January, on this page. You can leave your questions in the comment box below before the chat starts.
Michael Stephens
Joel M. Widder
)
