As the budget debate heats up in Washington between the White House and the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, many are concerned about tough to decide changes that are certainly coming. In the most recent newsletter published by the Association of American Geographers in Feb. 2011, John Wertman published an article about how the most recent budget proposals from the right-wing GOP could and would harm the future of geographical based research. The original article can be read at www.aag.org/publications under the Newsletter archive (requires login). For those of us who do not have a login, you can keep reading…

Here are a few points that were made by John Wertman:
…their goal (the GOP) is to return most federal accounts to their Fiscal Year 2008 (pre-Stimulus) spending levels.

…following through on this promise will result in draconian cuts to several popular education programs and critical grants to states and localities at a time when governments at all levels are struggling to balance their budgets… [and] have the biggest negative impact on the geography community.

[!!!]The National Science Foundation, for example, would lose more than 12 percent of its current funding… and the National Endowment for the Humanities would face a cut of over 15 percent.”

On the other hand, many scientists are “pleased” with the budget plan proposed by the White House and President Obama. Much of the plan cuts major areas while maintaining the integrity (yet still cutting somewhat) of funding for Research and Development.

See some source articles below and data tables on the new budget proposed by Obama for 2012:

“Obama’s 2012 Budget Proposes Pains, Gains for Science” – Wired

“The U.S. Science Budget” – Science Insider – AAAS

“Scientists pleased with 2012 Budget Proposal” – LiveScience