Scientists' Special Pleading

Eight US scientific organizations including the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society, urged Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain to support $9 billion in investments between 2010 and 2014 to help protect the country from extreme weather, which would nearly double the current U.S. budget for the area. Arguing that more than a quarter of the country's economic output, about $2 trillion, is vulnerable to extreme weather, these organisations urged the next U.S. president to help protect the USA from climate change by pushing for increased funding for research and forecasting, saying about $2 trillion of U.S. economic output could be hurt by storms, floods and droughts.
Now is this special pleading or do they have it right? For more go to http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN2041263620080821?feedTyp...
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