“Americans can figure that out for free.”

I’m not exactly sure how much funding from the National Science Foundation projects in American Studies/Cultural Studies get, but this might be a harsh blow to U.S.-based academics working in my field. It’s definitely chipping away at academic freedom : 

A measure limiting National Science Foundation funding for political science research projects passed the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, quietly dealing a blow to the government agency.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) submitted a series of amendments to the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013, the Senate bill to keep the government running past March 27. One of those amendments would prohibit the NSF from funding political science research unless a project is certified as “promoting national security or the economic interests of the United States.”

And his argument quoted in the HuffPo article sounds like statements I heard from STEM-majoring friends of mine when we were fresh out of high school and in college: We’re not doing real science anyway. 

(Pro tip: Discussing Foucault usually shuts the real science students up.)