Ridiculous Federal Agency R&D Expenditures

Federal Agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and others, have been wasting taxpayer money through Federal Research and Development grants to universities. I say "wasting taxpayer money", because the expenditures are almost invariably unnecessary with respect to pursuing the interest and needs of the American public.

          We now have an aggravated case of such waste with the presentation of the President's 2014 federal federal budget.

          Even without my ranting, it is obvious that government has been overspending and needs to reduce expenditures in order to have any hope of controlling national debt.

          The President's latest budget does not reduce any significant Research and Development expenditures for any of the agencies he controls. C&E News April 15 indicates a net 1.3% R&D increase proposed by the President in his 2014 budget request. 10 agencies are listed. The Defense budget would be cut by $4.6 billion. This is then squandered on Health and Human Services for a $700 million increase, the Department of Energy for a $1.9 billion increase, NASA for a $300 million increase, the NSF for a $0.5 billion increase, the Department of Commerce for a $1.4 billion increase, the Department of Agriculture for a $200 million increase, and Homeland Security for a $900 million increase.

          With his proposed budget, the President also said, "[This is] - a fiscally responsible blueprint for middle-class jobs and growth". I ask the President to explain how any of these R&D increases or even basic R&D allotments enhance growth, or are particularly beneficial to the development of middle-class jobs.

          House Speaker Boehner was somewhat mealymouthed when he said the President's plan does show positive improvement, but he may may have been more directly addressing other aspects of the Presidents Budget. Sen. Mitch McConnell, however, was more direct in stating that the budget is a repeat of past budget requests of which we have had enough of the past few years.