Midterm Elections Are Tomorrow! Get Out There And Vote!
The U.S. midterm elections are tomorrow! Do you need information about your polling place? We encourage you to visit polling place locators like Vote.Org or USA.Gov to look up your appropriate voting information. Interested in learning if any Science, Technology, Engineering and Math candidates are running in your area? The Scientist maintains a STEM candidate tracking chart you can access here. We encourage you to get out and vote tomorrow.
Congress Still Has Work to Do on NSF Funding in the Lame Duck Session
For the first time in in decades, Congress was able to clear its National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science funding packages before the start of Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. This represents a major break from Congress’s recent history of passing Continuing Resolutions (CR) – which provide flat funding, but keep the government open – and catch-all omnibus spending packages This break in recent history has been praised by many Members of Congress, federal agencies, and members of the research community.
However, the National Science Foundation (NSF) did not receive its funding on time and its final funding status is still up in the air as Congress returns from its break for the midterm elections. Appropriators in the House of Representatives approved $8.175 billion in funding for NSF earlier this year, while their Senate counterparts approved only $8.068 billion in funding. The House mark represents over a 5% increase for NSF over FY 2018 levels, but falls well short of the research community’s call for $8.4 billion in NSF funding. Research advocates are hopeful the NSF package will pass quickly when Congress returns, but it remains to be seen if the package will escape political controversy.
NSF Report Calls for Long-Term Commitment to Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure
On October 16, the National Science Foundation produced a congressionally mandated report on its investments in mid-scale research infrastructure. According to the NSF, mid-scale research infrastructure initiatives fall within a $10 – 70 million range and help to enable scientific advancements on shorter time scales than larger facilities. The report made several recommendations around potential funding mechanisms and called for further review of NSF’s oversight and management to ensure the agency is up to the task of managing more mid-scale projects. Read the NSF press release here.
Prominent Scientists Press British Government on Funding, Free Movement in Brexit Deal
On October 22, the BBC reported that 29 Nobel Laurates and 6 winners of the Fields medal wrote to Prime Minister Theresa May calling on government leaders to not damage the British-European scientific enterprise. The signees expressed major concerns about the future of research funding and potential restrictions on the free movement of people. The letter also calls attention to a recent survey of young European scientists that showed early career researchers were less likely to stay in the United Kingdom without a Brexit deal. Read more from the BBC.
Public Affairs Annual Meeting Programming: Brexit, Congressional Budgets, Grants, and Science Communications
Are you planning to attend the 2019 BPS Annual Meeting in Baltimore? Are you interested in international affairs, Congressional budgets, and science policy? We strongly encourage you to consider attending a Public Affairs Annual Meeting session. This year, we will host a Science Communications Workshop with AAAS (register online here, space is limited), a session on Brexit and its implications for the research community and immigration, NSF/NIH grant writing workshops, and a session on Congressional funding of science. Learn more about these session on the BPS Annual Meeting website.
Trump Administration Signals Cuts for Federal Agencies in FY 2020 Budget Proposal
On October 17, the Trump Administration unveiled that its Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will propose an across-the-board 5% discretionary spending cut across the federal government. Discretionary spending is federal spending implemented through an annual appropriations bill and includes spending on national defense, foreign aid, education, research, and transportation. Some analysts are raising alarm bells that this proposed pullback may cut much deeper than 5%, as spending reductions may not come from current spending – which resulted from a 2018 bipartisan budget deal – but instead from sequester spending levels, which will take affect without a new budget deal in place.
To date, Congress has mostly rejected both of the Trump administration’s budget requests on a bipartisan basis. The President’s budget request is mainly seen as a messaging document and the Administration is signaling to Congress that it would like to see spending cuts in Fiscal Year 2020.
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