Support the NSF and STOP cuts to Social Science Research
Oppose HR 4186 which will significantly cut funding for Social Science Research at the NSF
I am writing as a constituent to bring to your attention legislation that would seriously harm science and research in the United States. The Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science and Technology Act of 2014 (H.R. 4186), or FIRST Act, was passed by the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Technology on March 13. If the FIRST Act advances to the floor of the House without significant changes, I urge you to oppose it.
The FIRST Act reauthorizes the National Science Foundation (NSF), but there are critical problems with the bill. First, the proposed authorization of appropriations for the Social, Behavioral and Economic (SBE) sciences directorate is over 26 percent ($72 million) below the recommended level, which would decimate programs that have proven their value to the U.S. economy, national security, and the health of our citizens. Second, the bill would place additional burden on NSF regarding its already-gold standard merit review process and require additional, potentially duplicative, public disclosure of research grants. Third, the bill seeks to micromanage the grant application process and limit the number of awards that can be made to principal investigators, thereby undermining the merit review process that successfully determines the very best science worth taxpayer support.
Previous research funded by the SBE Directorate includes the works of Nobel Prize winning researchers - the late Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University as well as Daniel Kahneman of Princeton - that examines individual and group decision making. Researchers at Drexel University, Indiana University, and Arizona State University developed spatial models to help manage the location of sex offenders. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis investigated emotion recognition using nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, vocal tones and body language that are now used to assist the military understand cross-cultural, nonverbal communication with non-English speaking citizens with whom they interact overseas. These are just a few of the many examples of social and behavioral science funded by NSF that yield results with real world applications to our communities and the nation.
NSF is the largest Federal funder of social and behavioral science and these proposed cuts would cause irreparable damage to the U.S. scientific enterprise?including researchers at colleges and universities in your district who depend on NSF support. I urge you to fully fund the NSF and the SBE Science Directorate at the recommended levels, and oppose any effort to place new restrictions on science research funding.
Thank you for your attention to this issue and thank you in advance for your support.
The FIRST Act reauthorizes the National Science Foundation (NSF), but there are critical problems with the bill. First, the proposed authorization of appropriations for the Social, Behavioral and Economic (SBE) sciences directorate is over 26 percent ($72 million) below the recommended level, which would decimate programs that have proven their value to the U.S. economy, national security, and the health of our citizens. Second, the bill would place additional burden on NSF regarding its already-gold standard merit review process and require additional, potentially duplicative, public disclosure of research grants. Third, the bill seeks to micromanage the grant application process and limit the number of awards that can be made to principal investigators, thereby undermining the merit review process that successfully determines the very best science worth taxpayer support.
Previous research funded by the SBE Directorate includes the works of Nobel Prize winning researchers - the late Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University as well as Daniel Kahneman of Princeton - that examines individual and group decision making. Researchers at Drexel University, Indiana University, and Arizona State University developed spatial models to help manage the location of sex offenders. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis investigated emotion recognition using nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, vocal tones and body language that are now used to assist the military understand cross-cultural, nonverbal communication with non-English speaking citizens with whom they interact overseas. These are just a few of the many examples of social and behavioral science funded by NSF that yield results with real world applications to our communities and the nation.
NSF is the largest Federal funder of social and behavioral science and these proposed cuts would cause irreparable damage to the U.S. scientific enterprise?including researchers at colleges and universities in your district who depend on NSF support. I urge you to fully fund the NSF and the SBE Science Directorate at the recommended levels, and oppose any effort to place new restrictions on science research funding.
Thank you for your attention to this issue and thank you in advance for your support.
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