[Servant of the 9]

Is this really an appropriate expenditure of nearly $1 billion in tax payer dollars?

How about private enterprise, looking for an end product use for this bucks up the money.

Yes, it is.
This is basic research needed to underpin the future of all American Science.
Any profitable end products are literally generations away.
No public company can invest in research that won't produce a profit for 30 or 40 years. It would not be prudent stewardship of corporate assets and would probably result in a stockholders suit.

So9

[from occupied ga]

This is basic research needed to underpin the future of all American Science.

Pretty bold statement without a shred of evidence to support it.

[anobjectivist]

"Basic research"?

I fail to see anything basic about this, other than the scientific community always thinking that their wants are superior to everyone else's right to their own money.