As Congress and the Obama administration try to reach agreement on a spending plan for 2014, University of California leaders are urging that the repeal of sequestration be a top budget priority.

In a letter to California’s congressional delegation signed by President Janet Napolitano and chancellors from all 10 campuses, UC leaders describe the economic and human toll from the indiscriminate federal spending cuts known as sequestration.

“Promising science is being delayed or terminated. Labs are being forced to lay off highly trained staff,” they write. “Perhaps most troubling, young researchers are questioning whether to pursue research careers because vital fellowships are threatened and it is taking increasingly longer for them to obtain their first independent research grants.”

Sequestration, a mechanism for across-the-board federal budget cuts, took effect in March and mandates $1.2 trillion in spending reductions over the next nine years. Federal agencies have cut $85 billion since March and the next round of cuts, totaling $109 billion, will be enacted in January unless Congress acts to repeal or modify the law.

With the clock ticking, UC leaders and a broad coalition of universities, economists, scientists and others are urging Congress to recognize that much of the nation’s economic growth stems from federal investment in education and scientific research.

For more, follow these links:

• See Content Strategy Manager Carolyn McMillan’s full story.
• See the UC leadership letter to Congress.
• See UC’s Federal Governmental Relations fact sheet on sequestration.

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