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IN A further sign that science faces a rough ride in the next US Congress, the country鈥檚 National Science Foundation (NSF) has been selected as the first target of a scheme that asks ordinary citizens to identify 鈥渨asteful spending that should be cut鈥�.
For several weeks, the website of Eric Cantor 鈥� the incoming, Republican House majority leader 鈥� has featured a project called YouCut, in which people vote by text and email on proposed spending cuts.
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Now, with the balance of power set to shift towards his party, Cantor has launched the YouCut Citizen Review. It asks people to delve into the records of individual agencies for examples of waste. The YouCut website includes instructions on how to search the NSF website and a form for submitting examples of offending projects. The selection of the NSF as the first target sends a chilling message to researchers.
鈥淭he YouCut Citizen Review asks people to delve into the records of agencies for examples of waste鈥�