This will undoubtedly induce all sorts of railing about both the government and climate, but this step was actually recommended by the National Academies of Science, and I'm happy that it's being seriously considered. The NAS issued in a report that, distilled down, says that we're already paying for climate science, but the info generated by that work isn't reaching the people who need it most, like the ones that have to manage water supplies in the desert southwest. When those people do find the research, it's typically not structured in a way that's especially useful to them. (For a more elaborate summary of the report, see here - full disclosure, i wrote that).

So, this is largely an attempt to take information we're already producing (the government has paid for climate research for a long time through NOAA and the NSF) and make it useful.

Wow, way to get a bunch of stuff wrong. I was especially struck by this:
"we actually see all varieties of viruses, monera, protista, fungi, plants, invertibrates and vertebrates show up in the fossil record all at the same time"

Could you explain how to find a fossil of a virus?

And, incidentally, none of those things appeared in the fossil record at the same time. I see that getting your facts straight is optional.