Colleges will ?lobby to prevent budget cuts

Universities have joined forces to lobby Congress and push for a last-minute deal that would prevent federal spending cuts to research and financial aid.

As part of a 2011 agreement to raise the federal debt limit, Congress passed the Budget Control Act, which mandated that if deficits were not cut by $1.2 trillion, spending cuts equal to that amount would be enacted the next fiscal year.

Lawmakers postponed the cuts, known as sequestration, in a compromise reached at the beginning of the year that also raised taxes on top earners. The cuts are now scheduled to take effect Friday.

The uncertainty has left universities, including the UNC system, in limbo as they brace for the potential cuts.

A study conducted by the system found that sequestration would cause a reduction of almost $48 million in funding for research and aid.

Jeffrey Lieberson, spokesman for the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, said sequestration would cut about $10 billion from university research.

“This is just a bad way to go about this,” Lieberson said. “It would worsen our fiscal situation and create more problems.”

Lieberson said cuts to research funding would also make the economy less competitive.

“What makes this extra problematic is that the U.S. would be cutting investments while other countries such as China are increasing their research funding,” he said.

Bradley Ballou, director of federal government relations for the system, said cutting research funding is not the best way to reduce the deficit.

“From the beginning of this debate on debt and deficit, we made it abundantly clear that we need long term entitlements and tax reform.”

In an effort to avoid the cuts, the Association of American Universities and the APLU created the website scienceworksforus.org, which posts videos that discuss the effects of sequestration.

“These videos come from the president or chancellor or faculty member saying, ‘Here’s what the impact is and here’s the work and how it will be disrupted,’” said Barry Toiv, spokesman for the AAU.

Lieberson said universities have also begun working with other interest groups to prevent sequestration.

“We work closely with folks in the business community and the defense industry,” Lieberson said. “It’s really kind of been an all-out effort to try and educate lawmakers about the dire consequences.”

But Toiv said the sequestration could briefly go into effect between Friday and March 27, when the government has to pass either a budget or a resolution to continue funding the government temporarily.

Still, Ballou said he is optimistic that a deal will be made in time.

“Nobody wants sequestration,” he said. “If the time was ripe for a deal, it’s now.”

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.