SCIENCE was supposed to a big winner when the Democrats took control of the US Congress last November. What is looming first, however, is a fiscal disaster for American scientific research and space exploration.
Republicans and Democrats can share the blame. In 2006, the Republican-led Congress did not finalise the federal budget for fiscal year 2007 (FY2007), so emergency funding went into effect at FY2006 levels until 15 February this year. Last month, the incoming Democrats said they wanted to continue funding at FY2006 levels for FY2007.
This means that NASA will not get an extra half-billion dollars it had…
