In Brief
- Update on the 2020 Federal Budget
- NIH Issues New Fetal Tissue Restrictions
- House Approves Harassment Bill
- House Passes Bill to End Country-Level Caps on Green Cards
- House Science Committee Holds Scientific Integrity Hearing
- Alabama Lawmaker Announces Retirement; Opens Space on Key Appropriations Panel
- Last Chance to Reserve a Spot for the Rally for Medical Research Next Month
- BPS Congressional Fellowship Applications Open for 2020-2021
- Science in the News
Update on the 2020 Federal Budget
White House officials and congressional leaders have agreed to a two-year deal to #RaiseTheCaps by $321 billion and suspend the debt ceiling until July 2021. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 also includes $77 billion in offsets, which will be achieved through increased fees and an extension of cuts to Medicare and other nonexempt mandatory programs like the Prevention and Public Health Fund. The House is anticipated to vote on the deal before they leave at the end of the week for recess, with the Senate to follow.
NIH Issues New Fetal Tissue Restrictions
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued strict new rules for funding of fetal tissue research on July 26. The new policy — which will go into effect on September 25 — includes new requirements for grant applicants, including providing a detailed justification why alternative methods cannot be used to accomplish the same research goals and proving that a woman has consented to donate the tissue for research. The policy also bans graduate students and postdocs who receive NIH training grants from using fetal tissue. These restrictions follow an announcement by President Trump, over the objection of his science and health advisers, to limit funding of fetal tissue research and build upon a June 5 announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services that banned any fetal tissue studies by in-house NIH scientists.
House Approves Harassment Bill
The House approved the bipartisan "Combating Sexual Harassment in Science Act" (HR 36) by voice vote on Tuesday, July 23. HR 35 would establish an interagency working group led by the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), with representatives from each federal science agency with an extramural research expenditure over $1 billion and the Department of Education. The working group would be tasked with developing a uniform set of policy guidelines to address sexual harassment in science. The bill also directs the National Science Foundation (NSF) to commission a National Academies report on the influence of sexual harassment at higher education institutions on career advancement and authorizes NSF to award grants in order to study the causes and implications of sexual harassment for individuals in science. A Senate companion bill (S 1067) was introduced in April by Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) but has yet to be referred to any committees or to generate any Republican Senate sponsors. The House bill that passed was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
House Passes Bill to End Country-Level Caps on Green Cards
By a vote of 365 to 65 last week, the House passed the "Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act," which would remove caps on the number of employment-based visas available to immigrants from individual countries. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), the lead sponsor of the bill, said during the floor debate that such caps have had a “harsh impact” on countries with large populations and high demand for visas, such as India, adding that “it can now take a decade or more for an Indian physician working in a medically underserved area or a particle physicist with a Ph.D. from MIT to receive a green card.” She stated that “way over 90 percent” of immigrants seeking employment-based green cards are already employed in the U.S. on temporary visas and that the change would not lead to a large influx of new immigrants.
House Science Committee Holds Scientific Integrity Hearing
Last week, the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology held a joint subcommittee hearing on scientific integrity in federal agencies. The purpose was to examine the status of scientific integrity in the federal government, with a particular focus on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Scientific Integrity Act, a bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) that would codify federal agencies’ integrity policies. Each of the witnesses noted that scientific integrity policies are important but not infallible methods of protecting scientific integrity at agencies, enshrining integrity standards in law is an important step.
Alabama Lawmaker Announces Retirement; Opens Space on Key Appropriations Panel
Representative Martha Roby (R-AL-02) announced that she will not seek reelection in 2020. Roby's impending exit will likely free up one Republican post on the House Appropriations Committee, as well as the three spending subcommittees on which she serves: Labor-HHS-Education; Commerce-Justice-Science; and Military Construction-VA
Last Chance to Reserve a Spot for the Rally for Medical Research Next Month
Registration is now open for the annual Rally for Medical Research fly-in on September 18-19 in Washington, DC. This event, established in 2013, includes more than 300 national organizations coming together with a focused message of making National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding a national priority and to raise awareness about the research it supports. To express interest in the 2019 event, please contact Leann Fox at [email protected].
BPS Congressional Fellowship Applications Open for 2020-2021
Interested in using your science skills to inform science policy? Does spending a year working on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, helping develop policy sound exciting? The Biophysical Society’s Congressional Fellowship program is your opportunity to participate directly in the process of law-making that impacts how research is funded and regulated. This year-long opportunity provides fellows a chance to utilize their science knowledge to inform the public policy process. Fellows will gain firsthand knowledge and experience on how Congress works, and participate in the esteemed AAAS Science and Technology Fellows program that provides ongoing training and networking opportunities during the fellowship year and beyond. The application deadline is December 20, 2019.
Science in the News