Ames Grawert
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amescg.bsky.social
Ames Grawert
@amescg.bsky.social
420 followers 1.4K following 52 posts
Senior Counsel at the Brennan Center, working on criminal justice policy and understanding the impact of federal funding cuts. Hopefully building a better world for everyone, especially two little girls. Views my own, dad jokes and sci-fi takes welcome.
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amescg.bsky.social
Me trying to design and 3d print my own fountain pen parts
Drew Janda tweet — The haters said I couldn't do it. And they were correct. Honestly great call from the haters
August 9, 2025 at 10:16 PM
amescg.bsky.social
Some claim that the private sector can replace government funding for science. That's flatly wrong — as Dr. Prabhakar explains from her experience on both sides of the relationship.
The loss of continued, stable support for American sciences would further be devastating to our global economic competitiveness. The innovation and dynamism of American businesses rely on government-supported foundational research to create cutting-edge technologies like the ones identified above. But businesses do not fund a sufficient base of fundamental research on their own due to the scale, uncertain returns, and extended timelines involved. 38 Instead, multipronged, system-level government efforts that involve dedicated research funding are necessary to tackle the most pressing problems our nation faces, such as maintaining economic competitiveness and national security during tremendous geopolitical change, and improving the health of Americans. 39 Neither philanthropy nor the private sector is likely to take up that mantle. 40 Even if entities in the private sector were financially capable of shouldering the cost of foundational scientific research, they lack the broad expertise in public missions, coordinated vision, and economies of scale to realize it on their own. Any response that federal money preempts private investment—so as to fill the gap left following a government retreat from the sector—is incorrect. Such an argument misunderstands the complementarity between private and public investment that makes American science and innovation work. In fact, federal funding for scientific research expands the opportunity for private sector investment41 because innovative American technologies and companies build on
July 31, 2025 at 3:53 PM
amescg.bsky.social
A former Cabinet official and venture capitalist, Dr. Prabhakar walks through the funding freeze's immediate impact on American scientific leadership and business, situating them in the context of the administration's "broader cuts to investment in scientific research"
The OMB Directive and funding freezes have already had, and will continue to have, a devastating effect on the efforts of the agencies that administer Congressional funding and the researchers who leverage that funding to support the nation’s health, security, and economy. Americans will feel the effects of these harms for years to come: the OMB Directive and freezes have created lasting damage to America’s status as a leader in scientific innovation, resulting in a weakened pipeline of scientists and engineers that will deprive Americans of future scientific advancements. They ignore the benefits of stable, long-term research funding and threaten to deprive the nation of future fruits of today’s pursuits. Additional efforts to cut billions of dollars in congressionally authorized scientific research funding will only further amplify the harms imposed by the OMB Directive and subsequent freezes.
July 31, 2025 at 3:53 PM