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Lamar Smith
Budget cuts and the politics of research
Budget cuts and the politics of research

Here's another reason the dysfunctional federal budget process is bad for Americans: besides hurting the economy and hitting us in the pocketbook, partisan feuding over budget cuts could undermine our health and even shorten our lives. That's because House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and others in Congress have been using the budget process to target research in the behavioral and social sciences for elimination, even though they're indispensable to understanding and improving Americans' health. For example, a new University of Washington study reveals that life expectancy for American males varies by up to 18 years, depending on which county they live in. That's...