Editor’s Note: The following is a letter to the editor submitted by Gary Horvath. If you have a letter to the editor you’d like published send it to news@fingerlakes1.com.
Dear Rep. Claudia Tenney,
You are our New York representative in Washington, D.C. We expect you to represent the voters of New York. Donald Trump’s recent halt to the disbursement of federal grant money is a severe blow to the New York State economy. Every college and university in New York—hundreds of them—depend on federal grant funding to operate their research and teaching programs.
While universities are often able to secure millions of dollars in private and business donations to construct buildings and purchase major research equipment, those same research programs rely on federal grant money to fund the personnel conducting the research and the daily supplies needed to sustain their work. Cutting off federal grant funding essentially empties most research projects of their university technicians and essential supplies. It leaves our universities with fully equipped laboratories filled with expensive equipment but no one to use them.
This decision will shut down critical research in areas such as cancer, disease prevention, agriculture, plant science, food systems, and more. It will also halt progress in the arts, music, literature, education, and hundreds of other programs at our universities.
Furthermore, many college students depend on part-time pay from research programs to help cover their tuition, room, and board. The ripple effect of this decision will force many students to drop out of college, exacerbating an already challenging situation for families across the state.
This White House decision is short-sighted and poorly thought out.
Are you a representative of the people of New York, or are you simply a puppet of Donald Trump? Will you fight to protect the New York economy and its future? I expect both a response and meaningful action from you.
Sincerely,
Gary Horvath
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