The NSC Alliance has submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Committee regarding fiscal year (FY) 2024 funding for programs that curate natural history collections within the Department of the Interior and Smithsonian Institution.
“Scientific collections, and the collections professionals and scientists who make, care for, and study these resources, are a vital component of our nation’s research infrastructure,” argued NSC Alliance. “Preservation of specimens and the strategic growth of these collections are in the best interest of science and the best interest of taxpayers.”
NSC Alliance urged appropriators to provide the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution with at least $60 million in FY 2024, with new funding to correct for a lack of adequate increases in recent years, and adequate funding for programs within Interior bureaus that support the preservation and use of scientific collections, “a truly irreplaceable resource.”
“Scientific collections are critical research infrastructure that help support the nation’s bioeconomy,” argued NSC Alliance. “We also see these investments as critical for our efforts to grow diversity and inclusion in the scientific workforce.