Earlier this year we emailed you about how Sequestration cuts are eating into the federal funding that supports research, and to ask for your help fighting back. We have good news to report – working with our sister Local 5810 at the University of California, we were able to secure the support of Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Congressman George Miller (D-CA). They are now circulating a letter on Capitol Hill asking Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to enact a budget that rolls back the Sequester which you can read in its entirety here. They write:
Federal investment in research cannot simply be switched on and off. Many valuable research projects can take years or even decades to ultimately come to fruition. For this reason, immediate cuts will make it extremely difficult to restore adequate research in the years to come.
To support this effort we need your help! By encouraging your member of Congress to take a stand with Reps. McDermott and Miller, we can help save science and other important programs. Writing to your member of Congress is easy and anyone can do it – just click here to send an email asking him or her to sign on to the McDermott/Miller letter (or thank him/her if already a signatory). Feel free to modify the provided message or just send it as-is. The more members of Congress who sign on, the more powerful our message will be.
Join Reps. Miller and McDermott as “Catalysts for Change” in standing up to extremists in Congress who have cut investments in science, college financial aid, early childhood education, and many other programs while maintaining tax exemptions for the wealthiest. If allowed to stand, these cuts will make grant funding even more difficult, and fewer and fewer academic positions will be available. The cuts will also decimate college financial aid, early childhood education and other critical investments that create jobs and economic growth.
Click here now to send an email, and please share this with other friends, family and co-workers who value science research and economic justice.