U.S. Midterm Elections Offer Little Hope for Science
November vote is unlikely to break a political stalemate that has squeezed research funding

10-21-2014 | Lauren Morello and Nature magazine

When US voters head to the polls on November 4, they are poised to set in motion a major political shift that promises to intensify partisan strife over issues such as climate change, immigration and research funding. For the first time since 2006, Republicans are likely to win full control of the US Congress — having seized the House of Representatives in 2010, they are now predicted to take control of the Senate.

The development seems inauspicious for US researchers who depend on government funding. Prominent Republicans have repeatedly questioned the veracity of biological evolution and human-induced climate change, and party leaders’ push for drastic spending cuts has resulted in across-the-board reductions known as sequestration, which slashed 5.1% from science agencies’ budgets in 2013.

Yet in fact, the changing balance of power is expected to have little practical impact — because Congress may not be able to do much of anything. Experts see little hope of breaking the political gridlock that has made the current Congress, which began in January 2013, arguably the least productive in modern history. “It doesn’t matter what happens to the Senate,” says Michael Lubell, director of public affairs for the American Physical Society in Washington DC. “The outcome is going to be the same.”

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