I just wrote the following letter to my Senator:
Senator xxxxx, Museums are one of the backbones of our scientific infrastructure. I wanted to voice my opposition to the Coburn authored "Limitation of Funds Amendment No. 175". Although the concept of taking a close look at any wasteful spending in the stimulus package is certainly laudable, lumping museums, zoos, and aquaria amongst the likes of flatscreen TVs and casinos is absurd. Quite the opposite is true. Funding for museums represents precisely the sort of program that makes for smart stimulus spending. Museums are among of the most important infrastructural components to science in this country. Any study on ecology, biodiversity, evolution, comparative anatomy, or comparative genomics relies on material housed in research collections. Museums, zoos, and aquaria are locations where some of the best science is undertaken and resources on which the best scientists depend. Science is "shovel-ready." Numerous quality scientists are underemployed or forced to seek employment elsewhere due to a shortage of positions. There are people ready to go to work if their salaries can be procured. There are quality research projects ready to be conducted if the funds are made available. Any member of an NSF funding panel will testify that every round of submissions sees a very high fraction of rejected research proposals that were deserving of funding. To issue a blanket rejection of stimulus funds to museums represents a rejection of some of the very best scientific research and a missed opportunity to provide jobs and infuse capital into a sector of the economy that represents both a long-term investment in our future and a short-term shot in the arm through jobs and money well spent. Whether appreciated or overlooked, museums will represent a key component in the new economy. For instance, study on the effects of climate change or environmental degradation on the living world would literally end tomorrow if museums were to disappear. In spite of their importance, most collections in this country are understaffed, often deteriorating, and long overdue for upgrades. I encourage you to not only reject Amendment 175, but to consider boosting support to NSF and to our research institutions, museums, zoos, and aquaria.
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