What the Candidates Think
Obama: President Obama supports federal funding of scientific research. He believes that it “government funding for scientific research has yielded innovations that have improved the landscape of American life,” and that investing in such research will return America to its “scientific dominance.” Obama has taken measures to increase funding for scientific and medical research, and has a plan to allot the National Institute of Health $80 million to research Alzheimer’s.
Romney: In an interview with Scientific American, Governor Romney said that he supports innovation through scientific and medical research, and wants America to return to the forefront of these fields. However, he believes that the “private sector is far more effective at pursuing and applying innovation than government could ever be.” Romney says that he plans to “strengthen the American economy by empowering entrepreneurs and workers and rewarding innovation,” and build an economy that centers on “free enterprise [and] hard work.”
Estimates show the discovery of the Higgs boson particle cost 13.25 billion dollars. The research was partially funded by the U.S. government (Forbes, July 2012).
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