Research is non-linear and criteria based evaluation is lacking in perspective. You might throw away the baby with the bathwater. Advancement of science follows a deceptive path. Remember how the inventor of the mRNA method was shunned at her university just a few years ago? Because of things like that millions might die, but we can't tell beforehand which scientist is a visionary and who's a crackpot. If you close funding to seemingly useless research you might cut the next breakthrough.