Not just fusion research.
The problem with fusion is that it hasn't been proven effective yet.
We do however have a source of energy that has proven effective, much more so than fusion energy. It does come with the need to do some major rethinking in how we deploy that energy source, but nuclear fission power has the potential to bridge the gap between effective fusion power dependence and fossil fuel dependence. There are reactor designs that are passively safe after a SCRAM that currently in use reactors are not, and long term storage of the wastes is a solvable problem.
The problem with fusion is that it hasn't been proven effective yet.
We do however have a source of energy that has proven effective, much more so than fusion energy. It does come with the need to do some major rethinking in how we deploy that energy source, but nuclear fission power has the potential to bridge the gap between effective fusion power dependence and fossil fuel dependence. There are reactor designs that are passively safe after a SCRAM that currently in use reactors are not, and long term storage of the wastes is a solvable problem.