What It Means for Agencies To Be Under the Sequester

摘要

U.S. science agencies have been warning for months about the dire consequences of looming mandatory spending cuts. But if the cuts, known as sequestration, go into effect as expected on 1 March (after Science went to press), there are likely to be few immediate signs that the world has changed dramatically. In fact, it could be weeks or months before most scientists feel the impacts. The lower spending required under the 2011 Budget Control Act-an $85 billion cut for the current fiscal year that ends on 30 September-would eventually have serious consequences for the research community as well as for the general public.