As many of you are aware, there is an impending deadline (March 1st) for Congress to reach a budget deal for the next year or automatic cuts will go into place. These includes deep cuts to federal research funding agencies such as the NIH and NSF, and will be detrimental to scientific research. Most research labs rely on federal funds for every aspect of the labs ranging from student stipends to lab equipment. The disappointing part is that these are not deliberate cuts due to policy changes, but rather an oversight while politicians are bickering and trying to save the military budget. There are a number of things we can do to help bring this to the attention of the right people. The simplest is to sign the AAAS petition which will be passed on to members of Congress and the President:
http://membercentral.aaas.org/speakup
If you want to take it a step further, you can contact your congressional representatives and urge them to protect biomedical research funding:
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
Please help support the scientific community in this country by passing on the petition to anyone who may be interested!
