ASM Opposes Cuts to Scientific and Medical Programs in the President's FY 2020 Budget Proposal
March 11, 2019
°®¶¹´«Ă½ (ASM) strongly opposes the proposed cuts in the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2020 budget request to federal departments and agencies that fund science, research, and public health programs, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). These short-sighted cuts are harmful to our nation’s public health, scientific research, our economy and global health security.
Congress and the President need to work together to raise the unworkable and impractical budget caps mandated by the Budget Control Act in FY 2020. The Administration’s proposed budget expands cuts beyond these caps, making it hard to imagine that even the meritorious proposals to increase the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative, or to reduce HIV infection at home and support AIDS relief efforts abroad, are achievable.
This is why ASM, comprised of more than 32,000 microbial scientists and health professionals, urges Congress to categorically reject the Administration’s FY 2020 budget proposal and move quickly to negotiate a bipartisan budget agreement that lifts the caps on discretionary spending in FY 2020. Raising the caps is required if Congress is to provide robust increases for science-based programs and basic, translational and clinical research funded by multiple federal government agencies.
We are confident that if Congress can work in a bipartisan way to enact a new, budget agreement, our country can continue to invest in science, research, and public health. By doing so, the °®¶¹´«Ă½ States can meet the 21st century challenges we face in agriculture, biodefense, energy, global health, and infectious disease prevention, detection and treatment for the benefit of all Americans and people around the world.
