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Abstract
Critics of the Trump administration say it is waging war on science by placing skeptics of science in key posts and cutting the research budgets of major science-based agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health. They also complain the administration is weakening federal science advisory committees, letting key administration posts go unfilled and undercutting science-based protections on everything from drinking water to toxic chemicals. But President Trump and his supporters say government science has become politicized, resulting in job-killing over-regulation. They also say the federal bureaucracy is bloated and that many science-related positions can go unfilled. Conservatives also defend Trump’s decision to abandon the Paris climate change agreement, arguing the pact would harm the U.S. economy.