US science funding hangs in the balance with continuing resolutions

US president Joe Biden has signed another continuing resolution (CR) to maintain funding for agencies and avoid a government shutdown for the time being, nearly half a year into the fiscal year, but many science advocates are not celebrating even though this keeps US research agencies afloat.

‘Funding the government with short-term continuing resolutions over five months into the fiscal year is dysfunctional,’ stated Sudip Parikh, the chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in a 4 March statement. ‘With the passage of this CR, Congress yet again takes only one step back from the brink of effectively surrendering our global leadership in science and technology to other nations that have chosen to prioritise investments in biomedical research, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, fusion, [science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine] education, and more,’ he continued.