Science could be jeopardized in America. Who would the culprit be?

How Congress Could Wreck Science in America

A proposal in the tax plan passed last week by the U.S. House of Representatives would dramatically increase the cost of getting a graduate education in America, writes Tanya Basu for the Daily Beast. That will be a big blow to science in the United States – one it might be tough to recover from.

“The United States has been facing increasing competition from other countries in attracting top-tier candidates to its research facilities, and charging a tuition tax on students who are barely making ends meet certainly doesn't help the American science education PR campaign,” Basu writes. “That not only affects the coffers of American universities that rely on research to earn grants and funding for its programming, it affects the field as a whole. If labs have reduced or even completely empty presences, scientific progress is impeded. Another lab in another country might get to a conclusion faster, or a discovery might not be made at all.”

“In an age where science has a more prominent role than ever before, it's hard to not see the role of the administration's push towards giving wealthier individuals tax credits while believing that graduate students can afford to pay for their tuition. It's ignorant at best, detrimental and short-sighted at worst to the investment of science in our lives.”

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