If what researchers do is so valuable, then they should ask investors for the money.
Going to the government is a confession that you cannot prove value.
From my appearance on 60 Minutes:
Me:
Research works. If you want to freeze society where it is, then cripple the research enterprise.
Bill Whitaker of 60 Minutes:
Is that whole idea being lost in the harsh rhetoric by the administration?
Me:
The attack on universities is a tragic blunder. For all the foibles of universities, and there are many, and I pointed them out, universities' research makes life better, massively so. Why would you want to cripple it? It's something that the United States does really, really well.