Congress Cut DARPA Budget by $130 Million

Congress Cut DARPA Budget by $130 Million – Why?

This does not make sense, why don’t we find other ways to spend the funds, like perhaps some additional limbs for soldiers that come home from war, bionic arms and hands which DARPA has funded and helped create? What’s up with this?

DARPA is also involved in biotech research as well. Flu vaccine funded below.

“The unique benefits of the iBioPharma plant-based technologies have attracted competitive funding from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense. DARPA's support significantly advanced the practical utility of the platform for production of influenza and other vaccines.”

Research for a method for replacing tissue lost to injury, growing new organs, and curing degenerative diseases like diabetes and Parkinson's.

“The WPI research is an outgrowth of a two-year project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the first phase of a major effort aimed at finding ways to enable mammals—including humans—to regenerate tissue in digits and limbs lost to traumatic injury. This ability has been observed in amphibians, but not in higher animals.”

Here’s a link to a search of all the DARPA projects related to healthcare and a bit about the Urban Challenge, cars that drive themselves, anticipated in 5 years or so.

So why are we cutting DARPA Funds? Why is Congress bent on cutting technology and much of this is medically related and helps soldiers when they return? This one does not make sense at all and just indicates we still can’t look beyond the dollar bill, even with life saving and other beneficial technology is at work. BD

Congress just cut $130 million from Darpa's budget for next year, citing "poor execution" of previous funded projects. Some in charge of the purse strings say the Pentagon's premiere research agency wasn't spending the cash it was given. The agency's chief figures Darpa is being punished for holding its contractors accountable for their work.

Earlier in the week, House and Senate negotiators agreed to a defense budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on October 1st. As usual, they agreed to the vast majority of spending proposed by the Defense Department. And the programs they tweaked, cut or increase funding for were altered without much comment. For the most part.

But in the case of Darpa -- the Defense Department's cutting-edge science and technology division -- Congress proclaimed "poor execution" a half-dozen times, as it trimmed more than $130 million from Darpa's approximately $3 billion budget.

These latest cuts -- from space programs, biotech, "advanced war fighting technology" and other accounts -- are seen as a continuation of that argument

Darpa Budget Cut $130 Million for 'Poor Execution' | Danger Room from Wired.com