Statement by Research!America President and CEO Mary Woolley Urging Action on the Continuing Resolution and Supplemental Funding
We appreciate the hard work House and Senate appropriators, Congressional Leadership, White House negotiators, and their respective staff members have devoted to producing a bipartisan agreement on a continuing resolution, and urge the Senate to pass and the President to sign this legislation in time to prevent a government shutdown.
Temporary budget stasis under a continuing resolution is certainly a more responsible outcome than a government shutdown, but it cannot be deemed a victory for a nation in the midst of a crisis unprecedented in the breadth of its destructive impacts. COVID-19 isn’t tentative in calling for proactive, bold action to assure response capabilities including robust R&D capacity, even as it demands immediate crisis relief to assist families and restore economic stability. We urge Congressional Leadership and the Trump Administration to rise above the political maelstrom to act with urgency to secure an emergency spending bill that includes at least $26 billion to stabilize our nation’s at-risk research and development capacity. COVID-19 has undermined R&D that bears on health, economic, and national security. Our nation can, and must, reinforce our R&D assets to forge a path to the other side of COVID. The sooner emergency spending is in place, the more lives can be saved.
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