In Brief
Senate Invokes Cloture on CR on Eve of Fiscal Year’s End
Late on Monday, September 27, the Senate cleared a procedural hurdle to allow an expedited voting timeline for the continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government funded through mid-December. This CR provides Congress the opportunity to complete negotiations on fiscal year (FY) 2023 funding by December 16. The cloture vote comes as several Senators reconciled that they did not have the votes to attach additional proposals to the drafted CR before the expiration of the fiscal year on September 30. Urge Congress to complete their work on FY23 now!
Senate Confirms Prabhakar as Director of OSTP
On September 22, the Senate voted 56 to 40 to confirm Arati Prabhakar, PhD to be the first woman, immigrant, and person of color to lead the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Prabhakar will bring a background in engineering and applied physics, and her prior experience as director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to the newly elevated Cabinet-level position and serve as President Biden's science adviser. She will likely assume her new roles within the next couple of weeks.
Biden Announces Inaugural Director for ARPA–H
President Biden announced the first ever director of the newly created Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), biologist Renee Wegrzyn, on September 12. Wegrzyn is currently a vice president of business development for the bioengineering company Ginkgo Bioworks and previously served as a program manager in the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). She is expected to start on October 1.
The naming of Wegrzyn as the head of ARPA-H, along with the confirmation of Arati Prabhakar as the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP), leaves the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as the outstanding position still to be filled by President Biden in the federal scientific research arena.
Fauci Announces Departure from NIAID, Advisory Roles
Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden, officially announced he will be stepping down from his main leadership and government advisory roles. The move, which will take effect in December, will see Fauci leave his positions as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, as well as his advisory role at the White House. Fauci’s leadership has spanned nearly four decades and in service to seven presidents.