To The Editor:

The Trump administration is determined to relinquish our position as the global economic superpower. Having already turned their back on the growing and profitable Clean Energy sector, to China’s benefit, they are now looking to turn over future advancements in technology and medicine to more forward-looking countries by cutting research funding to government agencies and public and private universities.

Since the FDR era, federal funding enabled scientific discoveries that propelled the US in research and innovation making us the leader in the fields of technology and medicine. American universities and research centers have been the envy of the world, attracting the brightest students, many from other countries.

Over the last 50 years the US has produced more Nobel prize winners in science than any other country, many of whom immigrated here because of the available opportunities, our democratic principles and academic freedoms. Trump and his MAGA crowd are willing to jeopardize our future economy and national security by withdrawing all this funding. We won’t have to worry about China stealing our intellectual property – they will be creating their own.

As funding sources disappear, researchers will be forced to look elsewhere for opportunities. Canada, Australia, China and the EU are rolling out the welcome mat and recent graduates are actively looking. There will be a generational loss of scientists who will take their knowledge with them to places where the future matters and they are welcomed.

These funding cuts will be used to offset the costs of tax cuts for billionaires, military parades, paying for National Guard troops and Marines to handle crowd control and keeping aging coal power plants on life support. Oh, and most important – keeping Trump on his golf courses.

Kathy Quinn

Newtown