Sequestration Budget Caps and the Fight for a Budget Deal

Research!America
Jul 21, 2017 · 2 min read

We must urge Congress to pass a bipartisan budget deal to raise the sequestration budget caps in FY18.

  • Sequestration today means that we can’t address tomorrow’s threats.
  • It often takes years to transform a new idea into a lifesaving product. Budget caps stifle funding and can prevent researchers from beginning a study altogether.
  • Without stable and predictable federal funding, many scientists are forced out of academic research and we lose out not only on their minds but also on the discoveries that they might have made.
  • Sequestration stalls major projects ranging from supercomputers to biohazard labs that researchers need to effectively prevent emerging epidemics, develop the next generation of super materials, and find the links between genes and disease.
  • Sequestration budget caps ignore the fact that government spending is a driver of the U.S. economy and that their cuts reduce, rather than raise, GDP.
  • Federally funded research creates hundreds of thousands of jobs in the U.S., budget caps cuts many of these jobs and mean that fewer jobs can be created.

Use the sample Tweets below to voice your support for a bipartisan budget deal!

  • Sequestration handicaps #innovation. Let’s #RaiseTheCaps to ensure the U.S. stays at the forefront of biomedical innovation.
  • We must #RaiseTheCaps to ensure @CDCgov can continue to protect our borders from future #publichealth threats.
  • Sequestration #CutsHurt our national priorities, inhibiting #innovation to #cure the diseases of today and tomorrow.
  • We need a bipartisan #budget deal to #RaiseTheCaps & ensure the U.S. remains the world’s leader in #biomedical #research.
  • #RaiseTheCaps so we can raise #hope! #CutsHurt
  • If we don’t #RaiseTheCaps, we will lower our protection against #publichealth threats.
  • #RaiseTheCaps to ensure that research cuts don’t prevent the next #breakthrough. #CutsHurt
  • Few Americans support cuts to medical research to reduce the deficit. #CutsHurt #RaiseTheCaps http://bit.ly/2tiu1yJ
  • Majority of Americans don’t believe U.S. healthcare is the world’s best. Let’s #RaiseTheCaps to ensure that it is! http://bit.ly/2uMDzGz
  • Plurality of Americans say we are not spending enough on research to fight disease. So let’s #RaiseTheCaps! http://bit.ly/2uCSdzL
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Research!America

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Research!America works to increase public and policymaker awareness of the health and economic benefits of medical research and innovation.

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