CIRES Director Waleed Abdalati
Recent news stories describing steep proposed budget cuts for NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and suggestions of cuts to other science-based agencies have created considerable angst for many of us in Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). I understand these concerns, and while the news has been disconcerting, it is important to keep in mind how the budget process works.
The President’s budget is a statement of priorities by the Administration; Congress actually determines where and how much money is allocated across the government. The path between the White House budget proposal and enacted budget legislation involves a lot of tradeoffs, considerations and associated deliberations by members of Congress who have diverse priorities.
In short, there is a long road between the White House proposal and a budget that will actually go into effect.
Many of us – throughout the University of Colorado Boulder, at other cooperative institutes, and elsewhere in the community – are working very hard and through various channels to ensure that the value of the tremendously important work we do, which benefits our state, our nation and quite frankly, the entire world, is recognized broadly and deeply.
I am firmly convinced that this work is too important to national interests to be compromised as significantly as has been proposed, and I will be working with colleagues in business, industry, academia, and elsewhere, who are similarly committed to success in these areas of research and service, to make sure that this importance is both understood and supported.
Waleed Abdalati,
CIRES Director
