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Senate and House Republicans are poised to pass President Trump’s misnamed Big Beautiful Bill. It cuts taxes, primarily for the wealthy, and increases the national debt by $4.5 trillion. It largely eliminates bipartisan legislation that mitigated climate change harm, strengthened computer chip supply, supported research and manufacturing, and funded infrastructure repair, all to cut taxes primarily for the wealthy.

Technology grows slowly to a tipping point and then it’s everywhere. Here’s an illustration. Imagine Lake Michigan is emptied in 1950, but someone adds an ounce of water and doubles it yearly. How long would it take to refill Lake Michigan?

In ten years, the lake will have a few gallons of water. In twenty years, there will be enough water for a swimming pool. In 80 years (2030) there would be 40 feet of water. Five years later — in 2035 — Lake Michigan will be over 900 feet deep.

Doubling a number explains how sparsely adopted technology can lead to transformation. Self-driving vehicles, electricity from wind turbines, solar panels, geothermal wells, and modular nuclear power can seem insignificant, but once they are widely adopted, they are transformative.

We are far behind China in adopting these and other technologies. China’s technological advances are supported by massive government subsidies in research and manufacturing. 79% of the world’s solar panels are made in China. China largely controls the critical minerals needed to transform the country to clean electricity. The world’s best and cheapest electric cars are Chinese. China has more battery charging stations than Europe and the U.S. combined. China has timelines for self-driving cars and trucks. But the research required was largely done in the United States. Sadly, Republicans are gutting support of research

China is led by Xi Jinping, a brutal despot who declared himself ruler for life, suppressed self-rule for Hong Kong, regularly threatens Taiwan, disappeared those who opposed his rule, and has undertaken a campaign of genocide against Western China’s Uyghurs.

When Russia launched Sputnik, the U.S. feared that our technology was inferior to Russia’s, and the federal government began pouring money into education and research. Today U.S. universities lead the world in scientific research, but China’s are a close second.

Transformational technologies have military applications. A self-driving car can be a self-driving tank. Artificial intelligence can power your car’s navigation system or a guided missile. This is no time to stop funding research and development. Unfortunately, that’s what the Trump administration is doing.

It is baffling. Why, during massive heat waves, would the President want to speed the burning of fossil fuels which causes those heat waves? When everything from toasters to Tomahawk missiles is dependent on computer chips, why would you not support domestic chip making? When early warnings of weather-related dangers save lives, why cut National Weather Service staff? When research drives innovation, why attack the universities where that research takes place? The answer is that the spending on what keeps you safe must be cut to give a massive tax cut to the wealthy.

Call Congressman Ciscomani and Senators Kelly and Gallego and tell them we’re in favor of them supporting us, not the obscenely wealthy. Then we need to vote the Republican members who are advancing this nonsense out of office.