Increase funding for the NIH
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) should not be
subjected to further budget and sequestration cuts. These cuts heavily impact
research that will benefit society as well as the lives of investigators carrying
out that research. The
NIH is the largest publically funded biomedical research institute in the
world, yet its budget has not been increased and is continuing to undergo
sequestration cuts. NIH director Francis Collins stated that,
“the NIH runs about as lean an operation as could be imagined, and
any reductions will unavoidably harm the nation's scientific output.” We are
living in a time where biomedical research should continue to advance; new
discoveries are being made every day so we need to ensure that our laboratories
receive the funding necessary to maintain their projects.
In an interview with The Huffington Post,
Collins commented on the effects of long term sequestration, "I think we'll be no longer the world leader in
the production of science, technology and innovation. You can't look at the
curves and say, 'oh, well, it'll be fine,' if we stay on this track. It will
not be. China is coming up so fast, they are so convinced that this is their
pathway toward world leadership; they're not going to slow down."
Americans need to realize that this is our future; eventually China, India or
another foreign country will take our place as the world’s leader in science if
we do not make changes to the way scientific research is funded.
A possible solution to increasing funding for the NIH is to cut the defense budget. The United States is largest military spender in the world. In 2011, we spent $695.7 billion on defense, accounting for 58 percent of the total defense dollars paid out by the world's top 10 military powers. In the fiscal year of 2014, we will spend an estimated $830.9 billion on defense compared with the proposed $31.3 billion for the NIH. This sends a statement that we value our military more than the health of our citizens, but there needs to be a balance. Proposed spending cuts for the department of defense include: cutting the nuclear weapons arsenal, reducing the size of the Army and Military Corps, building less aircrafts and submarines for the Navy and Air Force and reforming military compensation. These cuts will help to reduce our deficit and free up funds for other non-defense agencies.
A possible solution to increasing funding for the NIH is to cut the defense budget. The United States is largest military spender in the world. In 2011, we spent $695.7 billion on defense, accounting for 58 percent of the total defense dollars paid out by the world's top 10 military powers. In the fiscal year of 2014, we will spend an estimated $830.9 billion on defense compared with the proposed $31.3 billion for the NIH. This sends a statement that we value our military more than the health of our citizens, but there needs to be a balance. Proposed spending cuts for the department of defense include: cutting the nuclear weapons arsenal, reducing the size of the Army and Military Corps, building less aircrafts and submarines for the Navy and Air Force and reforming military compensation. These cuts will help to reduce our deficit and free up funds for other non-defense agencies.
The decrease in funding for
research negatively impacts patients, investigators, health care practitioners
and students going into a scientific career. Patients are being turned away
from clinical trials, staff scientists are losing funding for their projects
resulting in a loss of their jobs, students are having a difficult time finding
positions for their training and vital research is being halted. The NIH cannot
fulfill its mission without proper funding. Our government needs to be
committed to supporting the goals of the NIH.
Basken,
Paul. "Cuts May Force Long-Awaited Efficiencies at NIH." The Chronicle of
Higher Education 59.29 (2013). Academic OneFile.
Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
Stein, Sam. "NIH
Director On Sequestration: 'God Help Us If We Get A Worldwide Pandemic'." Politics. The Huffington Post,
Aug. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/23/nih-director-sequestration_n_3804089.html>.
"Fact Of The Day #8:
U.S. Defense Spending Dwarfs Rest Of The World." Politics. The Huffington Post,
n.d. Web. 6 Aug. 2012.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/defense-spending-fact-of-the-day_n_1746685.html>.
Chantrill, Christopher.
"US Defense Spending." US Government Spending, n.d. Web. 27 Oct.
2013. <http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_2002_2018USr_15s1li211mcn_30t>.
"Office of Budget."
National Institutes of Health, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.
<http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/index.htm>.
Friedman,
Benjamin H., and Christopher Preble. "A Plan to Cut Military
Spending." downsizing The
Federal Government. CATO Institute, Nov. 2010. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/defense/plan-cut-military-spending>.
Topic sentence - is very good really good how you start it off and it stays talking about the topic of your pargphes.
ReplyDeleteSupport- I like the supports you used in the praphesd and its nice you can use more and explain it more on what you trying to say.
Transitions- it need more transitions words but it was nice what you had.
Quote- the quotes you used were good and they stay with the topic that you had and you example it the quote good.
grammer and spelling- that was really good.
Strong argument- very good argument I like what you are talking about and very strong on what you are talking about.
DeleteComment- I like the hold think you were arguing it was nice and put to gether and it look good so far.
Suggest- Make sure you put more transitions words and make sure you stay on your topic but really good.
I like how you do not have grammatical errors yet everything else looks fine.
ReplyDelete1. Your topic sentence was very detailed. You could add some sort of attention grabber, but I like the amount of detail you put into it.
ReplyDelete2. You had great support: you added quotes and statistics that held up and strengthened your argument very well.
3. I didn’t see any transitions – you might want to separate your points out in multiple paragraphs and see if your argument reads more smoothly.
4. You had two very interesting quotes and both were properly cited.
5. Grammar and spelling were perfect.
6. You had a very strong and well-thought-out argument with plenty of credible support. You presented your points and solution clearly and added in interesting statistics that helped me understand your argument better.
7. Your writing is always so mature and polished, and you add in a good amount of detail and support that strengthens your argument.
8. Try adding some transitions and making your topic sentence pop out at your readers.
- Topic Sentence: I feel the topic sentence is a little lengthy. Be specific to the point for topic sentence.
ReplyDelete- Support: Great support and reasons why to increase NIH budget.
- Quote: Nicely integrated into the blog. Follows the “quote sandwich”.
- Grammar and spelling: Saw no grammar mistakes.
- Strong argument: Have a very convincing argument.
- Compliment: Your writing flows very nicely and easy to understand.
- Improvement: Break up the paragraph instead of have one big one. When breaking the paragraph up add transitions.
1. Topic sentence: Good topic sentence it informed the reader try to make it more off an attention grabber to add more spark.
ReplyDelete2. Support: Great support statements on why NIH needs to be taken more seriously throughout this country. Also, the statics you used are very beneficial.
3. Transitions: Good transitions easy to understand.
4. Quote (in "quote sandwich" format with proper MLA citation): Correct MLA and quote sandwich.
5. Grammar and spelling: No errors found.
6. Strong argument: That US will no longer be the world’s leader in science, because since the cold war we have been ranked number one in science. However, in today’s society science is no longer valued as an important matter.
7. Write one COMPLIMENT: Over all I enjoyed your topic because it does bring up a concerning issue that most of us don’t even recognize.
8. Write at least one SUGGESTION for improvement: Be careful with your solution because many people would argue that it is important to have a strong military so that no terrorism is brought into this country. You could be more specific on where you would want to cut down on in the military budget that would help.