In Brief
OSTP Confirmation Hearing Live Stream
Dr. Eric Lander’s nomination hearing for the position of Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) will be held on Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 10 am ET. The live stream will be available on this Senate hearing page.
Senate Appropriations Outlines Process for Earmarks
Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced a new process for earmark requests for fiscal year 2022 bills. Requests will be accepted on a bipartisan basis, and with a number of reforms:
- A 1% cap on discretionary spending for congressionally directed spending items;
- A ban on congressionally directed spending items to for-profit entities;
- Senators will be required to post their earmark requests as well as an attestation they have no financial interest in their requests; and
- A requirement for the GAO to audit a sample of enacted congressionally directed spending items and report its findings to Congress.
RISE Act Leads Urge Administration to Support Research Recovery Funding
Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Fred Upton (D-MI), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) sent an April 23 letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Acting Director Shalanda Young and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Acting Director Kei Koizumi asking for the Administration’s support of H.R. 869, the “Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act. The RISE Act would provide $25 billion to federal research agencies, including $10 billion for the NIH, to support the research enterprise in combatting pandemic-related disruptions.
NIH Extramural Director Testifies Before Senate HELP Committee
NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research Michael Lauer, MD, testified on the NIH’s efforts to combat foreign influence in biomedical research in an April 22 hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Lauer testified that the NIH’s main areas of concern regarding foreign government influence on the NIH research enterprise are the failure of researchers to disclose outside funding from other organizations or foreign governments, “diversion of proprietary information included in grant applications or produced by NIH-supported biomedical research to other entities,” and a breach of confidentiality in the peer review system.
NIH Removes Trump-Era Restrictions on Use of Fetal Tissue in Research
The NIH issued a guide notice on April 16 reversing 2019 regulations that restricted the use of human fetal tissue in research. Specifically, the notice “informs the extramural research community that HHS is reversing its 2019 decision that all research applications for NIH grants and contracts proposing the use of human fetal tissue from elective abortions will be reviewed by an Ethics Advisory Board.” The notice adds that NIH will not convene another Ethics Advisory Board for fetal tissue research review, and that additional elements of the 2019 notices regarding proposed human fetal tissue research remain in place.