Scientists may be about to learn an important, and perhaps surprising, lesson about Washington: words matter. Rhetorical strategies crafted to push a particular bill affect expectations about the impact of that measure and can take on a life of their own. The stimulus package that became law in February, and will provide more than US$21 billion for research and development, is a case in point.rnThe Obama administration, Congress and advocacy groups sold the stimulus package to each other and to the public primarily as a way to create and retain jobs in the near future. The research funding in the bill was no exception, even though it was understood it could also promote longer-term economic growth. Congressman Rush Holt (Democrat, New Jersey), a physicist and a strong advocate for the research spending in the package, made the political linkage between research and jobs clear when he spoke at a conference on R&D priorities in Washington DC last month. Holt said that the Democratic leadership had asked for data showing the impact the research spending would have on jobs before agreeing to up the funding for science agencies in the bill. Such data, he said, were not readily available, although after some scrambling, agencies were able to cobble together rough figures sufficient to carry the day.
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