Well, If You Don't Want It...

Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, went down to Capitol Hill where Senators Tom Harkin and Arlen Specter gave her a hard time about the small, $442 million increase that HHS has projected for the 2010 National Institutes of Health budget, reports The Scientist. "I would urge you to take another look at that figure," Specter says. "We are in jeopardy of losing a generation of young research scientists. And I think we have to maintain the growth rate." Sebelius responds that she shares their concern but thinks that $10 billion NIH received from the stimulus bill will help.