system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Advice wanted: salary lowered bc of looming science budget cut ala Trump

TLDR: 
...is this something that is common? Are salaries being trimmed for the potential Trump outburst? Also... is 67k a decent salary for running an academic core facility (think along the lines of a screening / genomics / proteomics / imaging / sequencing / cloning / etc... a life sciences speciality facility). All advice is welcomed -- I get the sense that I am being toyed with but genuinely I dont have a clue.

Context:
Hey there. Recently I was officially offered a position in a major east coast city as an assistant director of a small & very productive core facility. YAY. This is something I've actively worked towards since graduate school, so I am beyond stoked for this opportunity. 

During the interview a few months back it was expressed that a salary in the mid to upper 70k was within reason. "It is still academia but we can do that" they joked. I'm a postdoc now so my only context was...is Glassdoor which reports anything from 60-120k on average. 

However, after getting the offer I was told that Trump's looming 20% science funding cut has made the committee rearrange priorities & that I would now be offered 67k & an opportunity to revisit my pay next year. 

For background: job offered is in a great (worldclass/ivy) research institution & affiliate teaching hospitals. Major east coast city (cost of living is $$$). SO is unable to contribute much salary to our 2-person home so consider mine the sole income for us & our dog. We don't plan on living in the city for too long since we feel it is far too expensive but, careerwise, the job could work wonders later on (CV credit)... maybe? Also I'm coming from Europe, if that matters (so I'm already going to negotiate on the personal/vacation time, hahaha)

I am all ears

**EDIT**: commenters brought up some good points so I'll clarify


- won't need a visa (but if you do please read comments below)
- find out if paid via grant (if grant then I may be out of luck & the salary will fall to what the institute wishes)
- because they will match dollar for dollar a 403b up to 10% annual pay this means I will be putting in the full 6.7k allowable... leading to my pretax takehome pay to be **60k** for two people in a major eastern city as an asst.dir
- make sure they have in writing that I can go to conferences! Agreed.

Lastly: Thank you a ton for reading & offering me advice!!!
gpt
Is the position soft money (grant supported)? Because if so, absolutely reasonable, happens all the time. Otherwise, the answer is It Depends. 

Whether you get a straight answer out of the people that know, is a different matter.