GOP war on science: House bill slashes funding for studies on Medicare, guns, climate change
Republicans on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee have offered a proposal that would dramatically cut the funding for social sciences and geosciences.
On Wednesday, Republicans revealed their 189-page reauthorization of the budgets for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other federal research institutes.
According to Science Insider, the $7.6 billion bill represents $126 million less than President Barack Obama requested in his budget. But more importantly, it reallocates NSF funds from scientific areas that Republicans find politically problematic.
Geosciences, which includes the study of climate change, would be cut by $165 million. Social and behavioral sciences would see funding cut by $140 million, almost half of what it is now. Education would also get a $100 million cut.
Biology, computing, engineering, and math and physical sciences would get an increase of $100 million under the Republican plan.
Slate’s Dave Weigel pointed out in 2013 that social sciences was a popular target for conservative lawmakers, who did not appreciate research like an NSF-funded gun study that validated Democratic talking points on the legitimacy of the “gun nut” culture.
The Boston Globe reported this week that a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study about how Medicare changes affect the political views of seniors would be on the chopping block, as would a Harvard University study about the impact of China’s one-child policy.
“We have to question spending nearly $700,000 of taxpayer dollars to fund a climate change musical or over $220,000 to study animal photos in National Geographic,” Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) insisted. “It’s the role of Congress to make sure we’re using limited federal funds for the highest priority research.”
Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-MA) accused his colleagues on the committee of advancing “selective science.”
He said that Republicans had taken an “opportunistic approach to defunding or attacking certain areas of science that you either don’t agree with or that you don’t want to see what the results might actually be.”
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GOP busted by CNN’s John Avlon for killing election security bill to ensure Trump gets re-elected
During his fact-checking segment on CNN's "New Day," contributor John Avlon blasted Senate Republicans for doing Donald Trump's bidding and killing two election security bills that could help hinder Russian interference in U.S. elections.
With Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) already taking heat (and being dubbed #MoscowMitch) for shutting down the two bills, Avlon asserted that it was obvious the GOP feels the president may need help being re-elected.
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Three Mississippi frat bros who posed with guns in front of a bullet-riddled Emmett Till memorial face potential civil rights violation
Three University of Mississippi students have been suspended from their fraternity house and face possible investigation by the Department of Justice after posing with guns in front of a bullet-riddled sign honoring slain civil rights icon Emmett Till.
One of the students posted a photo to his private Instagram account in March showing the trio in front of a roadside plaque commemorating the site where Till’s body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River. The 14-year-old black youth was tortured and murdered in August 1955. An all-white, all-male jury acquitted two white men accused of the slaying.
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How fundraisers convinced conservatives to donate $10 million to defeat Obama — then kept almost all of it
After recruiting thousands of donors for the American Conservative Union — the powerful organization behind the annual CPAC conference — a Republican political operative pushed the same contributors to give millions to a PAC that promised to go after then-President Barack Obama, but then steered much of their donations to himself and his partners.
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The PAC, called the Conservative Majority Fund, has raised nearly $10 million since mid-2012 and continues to solicit funds to this day, primarily from thousands of steadfast contributors to conservative causes, many of them senior citizens. But it has made just $48,400 in political contributions to candidates and committees. Public records indicate its main beneficiaries are the operative Kelley Rogers, who has a history of disputes over allegedly unethical fundraising, and one of the largest conservative fundraising companies, InfoCision Management Corp., which charged millions of dollars in fundraising fees.
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