Re:What? (Score 2, Insightful)

But then the conservatives aren't in favor of government research and would prefer less government and to let the "private sector" solve this problem.

I completely agree with you that the award exceeds what the care would cost. My wife is a college prof, researcher, and works with autistic children. I have family and close friends with autistic children, and you are spot on, that's way more than it would really cost. I also agree that the excess should go to research too. I'm a conservative, yet despite your perception I know that plenty of excellent research comes from state universities like the one my wife is employed by. This is putting the research in the hands of the gov't, and I'm fine with that. However, I would not trust congress with spending that money on research. Ideally I'd like to see it go directly to a good medical research school somewhere. So don't categorize all conservatives under one issue, it's foolish. You can believe in smaller government yet believe in the importance of the government's role in education (and thus research). Not all conservatives are the same, just like not all liberals are the same.