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France A. Córdova (right), director of the National Science Foundation, on Monday spoke out against President Trump's proposed cuts in science spending, WGBH reported. "We just cannot afford to give up," Córdova said in a talk at Northeastern University celebrating the dedication of the university's Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex. She said that the cuts proposed by Trump would damage research efforts across the United States. "The discoveries that have made such a profound difference in the way we live and learn and work and communicate are all due to investments in basic research," Córdova said. "Half of our present GDP is due to investments in science and technology, and much of that investment has been by the federal government."
To date, the Trump administration has not made its proposal for the NSF budget for the next fiscal year, but the administration has proposed deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health and other agencies. It is unusual for those who lead federal agencies to speak out against cuts proposed by any administration. Córdova was nominated for her job by President Obama, and the Trump administration has kept her on.
UPDATE: The NSF disputes the WGBH account and says that Córdova's comments were about the importance of research generally and not about the Trump budget proposal.
