My experience in higher ed is exactly the opposite. Funding is quite easy to get for STEM research projects through grants and other research programs.

Projects that just "align with political talking points" tend to be much more challenging to fund because there's significantly less money available in those domains.

Economically, an educated populace produces positive externalities on society. As such it makes sense for the government to fund and subsidize it to some extent because it produces a good ROI for both the society and the individuals.