A Big Freeze

At The Scientist Bob Grant looks into whether US President Obama’s three-year spending freeze will affect science funding. "Science advocates are concerned that Obama's funding freeze may spell the steep budgetary drop-off in the next fiscal year that many dread," Grant writes. He notes that Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden's chief economist and economic policy adviser, blogged that "the entire theory of the President's proposed freeze is to dial up the stuff that will support job growth and innovation while dialing down the stuff that doesn't." FASEB spokesperson Carrie Wolinetz adds: "We're hopeful that science is enough of a priority in the president's agenda that the scientific agencies we care about will not be included."