This week, as US presidents have done every year for decades, Barack Obama has sent a budget request to Congress that asks for strong support for research and education (see page 313). And, as usual, academic associations and scientific societies will now descend on Capitol Hill and urge Congress to give that support. Given the financial mood in Washington DC, however, any community that pursues a slice of federal funding in isolation will probably fail. If scientists hope to maintain the kind of research budgets that they have enjoyed in the past, never mind see the increases that Obama hopes for, they will have to unite with groups that are not traditionally their allies, such as advocates for foreign aid and against poverty. And they will have to rally behind an issue that they have officially ignored in the past: serious federal-deficit reduction.
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