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- Written by: Jason Owen-Smith, University of Michigan
The battle to keep the government open may feel just like the crisis of the day. But these fights pose immediate and long-term risks for the U.S.
The federal government spends tens of billions of dollars every year to support fundamental scientific research that is mostly conducted at universities. For instance, the basic discoveries that made the COVID-19 vaccine possible stretch back to the early 1960s. Such research investments contribute to the health, wealth and well-being of society, support jobs and regional economies and are vital to the U.S. economy and national security.
If Congress can’t reach an agreement, then a temporary government shutdown could happen on Jan. 19, 2024. If lawmakers miss a second Feb. 2 deadline, then automatic budget cuts will hit future research hard.
Even if lawmakers avoid a shutdown and pass a budget, America’s future competitiveness could suffer because federal research investments are on track to be billions of dollars below targets Congress set for themselves less than two years ago.
I am a sociologist who studies how research universities contribute to the public good. I’m also the executive director of the Institute for Research on Innovation and Science, a national university consortium whose members share data that help us understand, explain and work to amplify those benefits.
Our data shows how endangering basic research harms communities across the U.S. and can limit innovative companies’ access to the skilled employees they need to succeed.
A promised investment
Less than two years ago, in August 2022, university researchers like me had reason to celebrate.
Congress had just passed the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act. The “science” part of the law promised one of the biggest federal investments in the National Science Foundation – America’s premier basic science research agency – in its 74-year history.
The CHIPS act authorized US$81 billion for the agency, promised to double its budget by 2027 and directed it to “address societal, national, and geostrategic challenges for the benefit of all Americans” by investing in research.
But there was one very big snag. The money still has to be appropriated by Congress every year. Lawmakers haven’t been good at doing that recently. The government is again poised to shut down. As lawmakers struggle to keep the lights on, fundamental research is likely to be a casualty of political dysfunction. The budget proposals released so far fall $5 billion to $7.5 billion short of what the CHIPS act called for in fiscal year 2024. Deal or no deal, science is on the chopping block in Washington.
Research’s critical impact
That’s bad because fundamental research matters in more ways than you might expect.
Lagging research investment will hurt U.S. leadership in critical technologies like artificial intelligence, advanced communications, clean energy and biotechnology. Less support means less new research work gets done, fewer new researchers are trained and important new discoveries are made elsewhere.
But disrupting federal research funding also directly affects people’s jobs, lives and the economy.
Businesses nationwide thrive by selling the goods and services – everything from pipettes and biological specimens to notebooks and plane tickets – that are necessary for research. Those vendors include high-tech startups, manufacturers, contractors and even Main Street businesses like your local hardware store. They employ your neighbors and friends and contribute to the economic health of your hometown and the nation.
Nearly a third of the $10 billion in federal research funds that 26 of the universities in our consortium used in 2022 directly supported U.S. employers, including:
- A Detroit welding shop that sells gasses many labs use in experiments funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense and Department of Energy.
- A Dallas-based construction company that is building an advanced vaccine and drug development facility paid for by the Department of Health and Human Services.
- More than a dozen Utah businesses, including surveyors, engineers and construction and trucking companies, working on a Department of Energy project to develop breakthroughs in geothermal energy.
When Congress’ problems endanger basic research, they also damage businesses like these and people you might not usually associate with academic science and engineering. Construction and manufacturing companies earn more than $2 billion each year from federally funded research done by our consortium’s members.
Jobs and innovation
Disrupting or decreasing research funding also slows the flow of STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – talent from universities to American businesses. Highly trained people are essential to corporate innovation and to U.S. leadership in key fields, like AI, where companies depend on hiring to secure research expertise.
In 2022, federal research grants paid wages for about 122,500 people at universities that shared data with my institute. More than half of them were students or trainees. Our data shows that they go on to many types of jobs, but are particularly important for leading tech companies like Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Intel.
More comprehensive numbers don’t exist, but that same data lets me estimate that over 300,000 people who worked at U.S. universities in 2022 were paid by federal research funds. Threats to federal research investments put academic jobs at risk. They also hurt private-sector innovation because even the most successful companies need to hire people with expert research skills. Most people learn those skills by working on university research projects, and most of those projects are federally funded.
High stakes
The last shutdown was the longest in 40 years, but even short delays in research funding have big negative effects on the scientific workforce and lead expert researchers to look outside the U.S. for jobs. Temporary cuts to research funding hurt too because they reduce high-tech entrepreneurship and decrease publication of new findings.
Lasting stagnation or shrinking investments would have even more pronounced effects. Over time, companies would see fewer skilled job candidates, academic and corporate researchers would produce fewer discoveries, and fewer high-tech startups would mean slower economic growth. America would become less competitive in the age of AI. This would make one of the fears that led lawmakers to pass the CHIPS and Science Act into a reality.
Ultimately, it’s up to lawmakers to decide whether to fulfill their promise to invest more in the research that supports jobs across the economy and American innovation, competitiveness and economic growth. Whether the current budget deal succeeds or fails, basic research is on the table and the stakes are high.
Jason Owen-Smith, Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
The meeting will be broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel or the Lake County PEGTV YouTube Channel.
Community members also can participate via Zoom or can attend in person. The webinar ID is 840 7060 8548.
The meeting also can be accessed via One tap mobile at +16694449171,,84070608548# or by dialing 1 669 444 9171.
The agenda can be found here.
Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at
To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments before 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18.
On the agenda is the discussion and consideration of contracts related to the preparation of environmental review for the Clearlake Airport Redevelopment Project.
The council will consider waiving competitive bidding requirements and approve the contracts with Gary Price Consulting, California Engineering Company and LSW Architects and authorize City Manager Alan Flora to sign the agreements.
The project is located on the former Pearce Field airport property.
The staff report shows that the contracts will total $602,875.50.
Also on the agenda is the review, approval and submittal of the fiscally year 2024-25 Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule for the period of July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025; a presentation of January’s adoptable dogs; the presentation of the Public Safety Recognition Award to Officer Eagle; presentation by Public Works Director Adeline Leyba of Public Works projects; and presentation of certificates of appreciation for Breakfast with Santa volunteers.
On the meeting's consent agenda — items that are considered routine in nature and usually adopted on a single vote — are warrants; authorization of an amendment of on-call contract with LACO Associates in the amount of $45,585 for the MIT Storm Drain Plan; minutes of the Dec. 13 Lake County Vector Control District Board meeting; approval of Code Enforcement supervisor and chief building inspector positions and update of the 23/24 FY Salary Schedule; and approval of the purchase from National Food Equipment of walk-in freezer unit for the senior/community center not to exceed $88,500.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The meeting will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Habematolel community center, 9470 Main St.
Community members also can attend via Zoom; the webinar ID is 961 4614 3787, the pass code is 528334.
On the agenda are discussions on several topics.
Those include the application status for the Rancho Novoa wedding venue at Blue Lakes.
They also will discuss the Northshore Fire Protection District, Pyle Road, traffic safety at Upper Lake schools, vegetation removal requests for Elk Mountain Road, and droughts and floods.
The community is encouraged to attend.
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- Written by: NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
An unprecedented number of billion-dollar disasters — 28 in total — struck the U.S. in 2023, as the remarkably warm year wrapped up with a record-warm December.
“For millions of Americans impacted by a seemingly endless onslaught of weather and climate disasters, 2023 has hit a new record for many extremes,” said NOAA Chief Scientist Sarah Kapnick. “Record warm U.S. temperatures in December, a record-setting number of U.S. billion-dollar disasters in 2023 and potentially the warmest year on record for the planet are just the latest examples of the extremes we now face that will continue to worsen due to climate change.”
Here’s a recap of the climate and extreme weather events across the U.S. in 2023:
Climate by the numbers
2023
The average annual temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 54.4 degrees F — 2.4 degrees above the 20th-century average — ranking as the nation’s fifth-warmest year in NOAA’s 129-year climate record.
The year ended on a record-warm note as well. December 2023 ranked as the nation’s warmest December with an average temperature of 39.97 degrees F, 7.29 degrees above normal, besting the previously record-warmest December of 2021.
Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Texas each saw their warmest year on record, while Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Vermont and Virginia each saw their second-warmest. An additional 24 states experienced a top-10 warmest year on record.
Annual precipitation across the contiguous U.S. totaled 29.46 inches (0.48 of an inch below average), which placed 2023 in the driest third of the climate record. Louisiana had its eighth-driest year on record, while Maine ranked fifth wettest and Vermont and Connecticut both ranked sixth wettest. Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island all saw a top-10 wettest year.
Drought reached a peak coverage of 46.3% of the contiguous U.S. at the beginning of 2023. Drought coverage across the nation shrank as atmospheric rivers and the summer monsoon brought above-normal precipitation to much of the western U.S., recharging some of the major reservoirs that dropped to their lowest levels in 2022. Drought reduced to a minimum extent of 19% on May 30 — the smallest footprint for the contiguous U.S. since mid-2020.
Billion-dollar disasters in 2023
Last year, the U.S. experienced 28 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters. This surpasses 2020 — which had 22 events — for the highest number of billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. on record.
“The U.S. was hit with more billion-dollar disasters in 2023 than any other year on record, highlighting the increasing risks from our changing climate,” said NOAA NCEI Director Deke Arndt. “Record heat waves, drought, wildfires and floods are a sobering reminder of the consequences of the long-term warming trend we’re seeing across our country. These findings underscore the need for the data products and services provided by NOAA, like this annual report, to help create a more informed and climate-ready nation.”
The 28 events from 2023 include:
• 17 severe weather/hail events.
• 4 flooding events.
• 2 tropical cyclones (Idalia in Florida and Typhoon Mawar in Guam).
• 2 tornado outbreaks.
• 1 winter storm/cold wave event.
• 1 wildfire event (Maui Island of Hawaii).
• 1 drought and heat wave event.
The total cost for these 28 disasters was $92.9 billion, but that may rise by several billion dollars when the costs of the December 16-18, 2023, East Coast storm and flooding event are fully accounted for.
The most costly events in 2023 were the Southern/Midwestern drought and heat wave event at $14.5 billion, and the Southern/Eastern severe weather event in early March, at $6.0 billion.
Adding the 2023 events to NOAA’s billion-dollar disaster record dating back to 1980, the U.S. has sustained 376 separate weather and climate disasters. The damage costs for each of these events reached or exceeded $1 billion. The cumulative cost for these 376 events exceeds $2.660 trillion.
Other notable climate and weather events in 2023
Extreme heat scorched parts of the nation: Several historic heat waves sizzled across the U.S. in 2023.
Some of those events include:
• June 20: Del Rio, Texas, and Rio Grande, Texas, both hit 113 degrees F and San Angelo, Texas, reported a high of 114 degrees, setting the all-time heat record at each location.
• July: Phoenix, Arizona, had an average temperature of 102.8 degrees F for the month of July — the hottest month on record for any U.S. city.
• July 16: Death Valley, California, soared to 128 degrees F, setting a daily-temperature record, and reported its hottest midnight temperature on record at 120 degrees on July 17.
• Aug. 24: Temperatures in Chicago soared to 100 degrees F — the first 100 degree temperature since July 6, 2012. The heat index hit 120 degrees, the highest ever recorded at Chicago’s official climate observation site.
• September: San Juan, Puerto Rico, reported a monthly average temperature of 85.8 degrees F during the month of September — becoming the hottest month on record for the city.
• An above-average tornado year: The tornado count for 2023 was above average with 1,197 tornadoes reported, and an additional 97 preliminary tornadoes still under verification for the Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 period.
Some significant tornado events from 2023 include:
• Jan. 16: Two tornadoes were confirmed by NOAA’s National Weather Service in Iowa — the state’s first January tornadoes since 1967.
• March 22: An EF-1 tornado touched down in the Los Angeles area, developing into the strongest tornado to hit the area since 1983.
• March 31: Nearly 28 million people were under tornado watches as a widespread and deadly tornado outbreak occurred across portions of the Midwest and southern U.S. More than 110 tornadoes, including one EF-4 and eight EF-3s, were confirmed by the National Weather Service — the largest outbreak in a 24-hour period for the month of March.
• April 1: A 700-yard-wide EF-3 tornado touched down in Delaware — the widest tornado in the state's history and tying as its strongest.
A near-normal number of wildfires: The number of wildfires in 2023 was close to average, with more than 55,500 wildfires reported over the year. The total acres burned from these wildfires — 2.6 million acres — were well below the ten-year average of 7.1 million acres. In Alaska, nearly 300,000 acres burned during the 2023 fire season — less than half of the state’s seasonal average.
