Comment from Ricardo Price

To whom it may concern, I work in agricultural science, specifically in plant disease. My younger siblings want to work in science and healthcare some day. I have the honor of working as a lab manager at a public university, and have experience working with talented federal researchers. The current status quo for research spending in federal agencies already does most of what the proposal wants to do for the rest of publicly-funded research, and the current effect on just the agencies that I know of have been disastrous. My federal colleagues already need to submit a novel's worth of documentation, communicate extensively with sales representatives, and then enter into a spending queue with dozens of other labs across multiple states. With my state of North Carolina, my peers in the USDA are in competition to get their order in the door through ONE person who services Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. This person has a combined daily spending limit of $15,000 for the entire region for common purchases. Working in agricultural science means that we're beholden to the seasons, the crops, pathogens, but mostly bureaucracy. DOGE took the administrative personnel who helped research happen, and so now scientists and technicians work 2 extra jobs, delaying the work that they're actually being paid for. There is talk about bringing back the same people we lost with DOGE, but via contractors at an increased rate--effectively undoing the cost savings that were claimed with the firing scheme. This planned expansion of the bureaucratic swamp to poison publicly funded research will undoubtedly make the job of those working hard to secure our food supply, improve public health, and keep the costs of food staples down even more outrageously difficult. Additionally, the political perversion of research dollars within universities will undoubtedly mean that people who are not qualified to make decisions from a place of experience and knowledge will decide the future of health, food, and environment for all of us. At my university, students are increasingly deciding to pursue education and jobs outside of the United States, because we are moving in a direction aiming to shrink our international status as a leader in science and freedom to ask questions. Researchers, technicians, administrators, and students are all tired, and few people see hope coming. The resounding message has been, and with this new proposal sounds like this: research for the public good is out, join a company, or go somewhere else.