Unwashed Masses to Guide Research Spending

The Republican majority in the House of Representatives has established something they call “YouCut Citizen Review,” in which citizens are being encouraged to identify “wasteful spending that should be cut,” voting by text message and email on proposed spending cuts. Each of the “winners” has been put to the floor of the House for a vote. Eric Cantor, the incoming House majority leader, has asked people to search the records of individual granting agencies for examples of “waste.” While there is no immediate threat from this to research programs, as Congress merely establishes the agencies’ overall budgets and does not usually get involved with individual grants, there is tremendous potential for political theater and eventual influence on research priorities as agency heads inevitably find themselves called to hearings on Capitol Hill.