Dr. Holden Thorp

And then I think beyond that is if you're a young person in the U.S.

and you're thinking about what you might do with your scientific training, is staying in the world where you're going to be supported by scientific grants with all these uncertainties the best way to do that?

I mean, I think it's understandable if young people concluded that it wasn't.

I'm constantly out on the road encouraging them to stay the course, tell them about all the swings we've had back and forth over history, and hoping that they'll hang in there with us.

But that's a worry we all have.

And if we lose a generation, it'll be highly ironic because one of the main points in 1945

of starting the science agencies and doing the work in the universities was that it would allow us to bring back people who had fought in World War II, who were very talented, who were going to need more training and not lose that generation.

And now we're talking about losing a generation of scientists 80 years later for a completely different reason.

Well, the regulations are open for comments, and it's true that the administration doesn't have to follow those comments, but there are tens of thousands of comments now, and I think people should go on and make their comments, not because necessarily it's going to stop this in the immediate term, but as time goes on, as people lobby Congress and perhaps file lawsuits to try to do things about this, the more obvious public outcry is documented, I think,

the more effective that can be.

And then I think the next thing is to, if you want to do something about this, write to your members of Congress and tell them that you're concerned about this and that you respect the idea that Congress appropriated this money and that OMB's job

is not to input its own agenda on that, but to honor the power of the purse that the Constitution gives the Congress and disperse the money according to the law.

Yeah, that's a fair analysis.

You know, I try to be optimistic about it all.

I think that it's possible it could take effect for some time.

It could be undone by stronger language in the next budget bill, for example.

But that might mean that it could take effect for decades.

for a time.

You know, if you're more optimistic, maybe you hope that Congress can persuade OMB not to go down this road if we get to the right people.

But I'd say at this point, it's certainly possible that these regulations could go in effect at least temporarily.