Day of reckoning approaches for science in the US budget

Nature : Last August Congress and the White House passed the Budget Control Act , which set a dateâmdash;2 January 2013âmdash;by which either lawmakers figure out a way to reduce the deficit, or automatic cuts will be applied across all programs. If the latter, called “sequestration,” occurs, science programs could be especially hard hit. Because of ambiguity in how the sequestration would be carried out, the House of Representatives recently passed “transparency” legislation requiring that President Obama specify how the cuts are to be applied. If the Senate passes a parallel bill, the administration will need to provide details within 30 days.