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Appropriations bill removes restrictions on NSF funding for political science

- January 16, 2014

The powers of presidents are one of the many topics studied by political scientists with help from the National Science Foundation. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News)
From the American Political Science Association (APSA):

This 2014 omnibus appropriations bill [passed by the House as H.R. 3547] does not include restrictions on the National Science Foundation Political Science Program. This bill is based on the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) title reported during the summer of 2013 by the Senate Committee on Appropriations led by Chairwoman [Barbara A.] Mikulski, who heard our concerns about the [Tom] Coburn amendment and advanced a bill that reflects a commitment to political science as part of a robust and rigorous national science agenda and to the independence and integrity of the National Science Foundation.

The Senate votes on the bill in the coming days.  For a statement on the importance of allowing the allocation of research funding to be determined by the peer review process — a process that was undermined by the Coburn amendment — see this previous Monkey Cage post by Rice University political scientist Rick Wilson.
Should anyone be so moved to ask their senator to support the appropriations bill when it comes up for a vote, this link could be helpful.