Scientific and biomedical research are crucial to the economy and domestic and foreign policy of the US. Money invested in research returns more than double every dollar spent to the US economy. The cuts to the NIH and NSF budget may seem small, but they will have a big impact on these programs whose budgets are already shrinking related to inflation. These cuts will devastate science in our nation and encourage promising young researchers to move to other countries.
In terms of the federal debt, these cuts are inconsequential. They will not meaningfully reduce the deficit. But they will substantially limit the economic growth of our nation. These are short-sighted cuts that will devastate our country's future.