How anyone in Augusta can prattle on about helping Maine’s economy grow while eviscerating the most promising investment this part of the state has seen in decades is a mystery. But the State House is full of such contradictions.

Like this one. Democrats last session wanted $20 million to spend on research and development through the University of Maine System. Certainly, an exciting and overdue idea. Many legislators didn’t quite grasp the concept at first and no one knew the budget was about to sprout a surplus, so all the university got was $400,000. The University of Maine promptly leveraged $2.7 million in additional grants with that money, creating jobs, using local goods and services and generating a payback in the form of taxes. This opened political eyes to the possibility that there was more where that came from.

A bipartisan committee was formed to look into it. Its members did research of their own, and were surprised to find states that have turned their schools into essential players in their economies. They came to the conclusion that Maine could do the same thing. Starting modestly, they asked for $10 million and a $20 million bond package. That’s small compared with competing states that fork over $100 million to $150 million a year to go after the same grants.

Frankly, it was difficult to bring Republicans on board until they saw that this was more than just dollars that were going to disappear within the university system. But the GOP was with the bill as it got to the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee. When Republicans looked around, however, they found that Democratic leaders had cut a deal with Gov. Angus King, who has opposed the outright funding of this proposal from the start. The governor and Democrats now say they support the bill — but for a mere $4 million, unless another bauble catches their eye.

The $4 million isn’t guaranteed. The university could get that much only if there are enough scraps left over on the Appropriations table after everything else has been heard. It will find out sometime next summer — maybe in August.

It is outrageous that the Legislature could look at a large surplus, easily identify the R&D spending as the best chance this region has to grow and then cut the investment off at the knees when it comes time to defend it.

The proposal stands as an embarrassment to the Legislature’s sense of priorities. It needs an amendment supported by the majority to get back to $10 million. It needs legislators to stand up to leadership and say this is too important to get buried at the end of the session.