- Budget and Appropriations Update: Third Phase COVID-19 Relief Package Edition
- AAU, Associations Urge President to Lift Fetal Tissue Research Restrictions to Fight COVID-19
- OSTP Extends Comment Period Deadline on Public Access to Research Outputs RFI
- AAU, Organizations Urge Education Department to Delay Title IX, HEA Section 117 Regulatory Action
- More Than 50 Reps. Urge OMB to Make Administrative Relief for Federal Grant Recipients Mandatory
- AAU, Associations Support Charitable Giving Deduction Amendment
- CNSR Outlines FY21 NDAA Defense Science & Technology Priorities
- Supreme Court Rules the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act Violates the 11th Amendment
- Upcoming Events
BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE: THIRD PHASE COVID-19 RELIEF PACKAGE EDITION
The House today advanced H.R. 748, the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.” The bill includes $30.75 billion in emergency education funding, of which almost $14 billion is provided to higher education institutions to support the costs of shifting classes online; the funding also supports grants to students for food, housing, technology, and more. The measure provides more than $13 billion for K-12 education and $3 billion for governors to allocate at their discretion to educational institutions of all levels affected by the pandemic. It would also suspend federal student loan payments and interest collection for six months. The legislation also includes: $945 million for NIH; $99.5 to the DOE Office of Science; $60 million for NASA; $76 million for the NSF; $75 million for the National Endowment of the Humanities; and $3 million for the Department of Agriculture.
AAU President Mary Sue Coleman issued a statement after the House passed the bill. In the statement, President Coleman applauded Congress’ efforts to deliver additional funding for research and other resources, but called on them to “do more in the weeks ahead to bolster the resources and protections provided to students, researchers, universities, laboratories, hospitals, and medical professionals.”
Previously, the president signed into law two pandemic relief packages: the $8.3 billion H.R. 6074, the “Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Act;” and the $100 billion H.R. 6201, the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act.”
AAU, ASSOCIATIONS URGE PRESIDENT TO LIFT FETAL TISSUE RESEARCH REGULATIONS TO HELP FIGHT COVID-19
AAU recently joined more than 100 other scientific and medical organizations on a letter calling on the administration to immediately lift restrictions on federally funded research that uses human fetal tissue. The letter says that lifting these restrictions would help expedite the work of researchers to develop treatments, vaccines, and cures. The organizations go on to highlight the critical role fetal tissue has played in “the development of other vaccines and therapies for viral pathogens, such as HIV, in the past.”
OSTP EXTENDS COMMENT PERIOD DEADLINE ON PUBLIC ACCESS TO RESEARCH OUTPUTS RFI
The Office of Science and Technology Policy yesterday announced that it will extend the deadline for a request for information titled “Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and Code Resulting From Federally Funded Research.” The RFI aims to “explore opportunities to increase access to unclassified published research, digital scientific data, and code supported by the U.S. Government.”
AAU, ORGANIZATIONS URGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO DELAY TITLE IX, HEA SECTION 117 ACTION
On Wednesday, AAU, ACE, and 31 other education organizations sent a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urging the department to wait until campuses have resumed normal operations to pursue further action on its proposed rulemaking on Title IX and on its HEA Section 117 foreign gifts and contracts information collection request. The organizations clarify that the subject of their letter is not the merits of the department’s pending Title IX and Section 117 actions, but rather “the serious disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic” that have limited institutional capacity to implement these proposals at this time.
MORE THAN 50 REPS. URGE OMB TO MAKE ADMINISTRATIVE RELIEF FOR FEDERAL GRANT RECIPIENTS MANDATORY
More than 50 representatives signed on to a letter from Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) urging OMB to “make mandatory immediately” the administrative research grant relief specified in M-20-17 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Submitted today, the members say the relief outlined in the M-20-17 memo is a positive step, but “falls short of certain help for our nation’s universities and research enterprises.”
RESOURCE AVAILABLE: AAU, Organizations Recommend OMB Expand Federal Financial Assistance Administrative Relief
AAU, ASSOCIATIONS SUPPORT CHARITABLE GIVING DEDUCTION AMENDMENT
AAU on Monday joined ACE and 16 other higher education organizations on a letter to Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) in support of his amendment to the CARES Act that would create an above-the-line deduction for charitable giving for taxpayers not itemizing their deductions. According to the organizations, the measure “would provide a significant giving incentive for all taxpayers during a time of incredible need,” and would also “provide immediate support to help colleges and universities continue fulfilling their teaching, research and public service
missions.”
CNSR OUTLINES FY21 NDAA DEFENSE SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY PRIORITIES
The Coalition for National Security Research, of which AAU is a member, recently sent a letter to House and Senate Armed Services Committee members outlining CNSR’s funding priorities for the FY21 NDAA. The letter requests that members provide robust funding for: the Defense Science & Technology program; Defense Basic Research; and the Minerva Research Initiative. The letter says: “it is absolutely essential Congress authorizes and provides robust funding for the Defense S&T program as near-peer competitor nations, such as China and Russia, vie for dominance in military technologies.”
SUPREME COURT RULES THE COPYRIGHT REMEDY CLARIFICATION ACT
VIOLATES THE 11th AMENDMENT
The U.S. Supreme Court last week ruled unanimously for the state of North Carolina in Allen v. Cooper , holding that the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act violated the 11th Amendment by authorizing private copyright infringement lawsuits against U.S. states. Last year AAU and APLU submitted an amicus brief arguing that protecting sovereign immunity “ensures that state universities can continue to serve the vital public goals of education, research, and development…. With the increased cost of warding off litigation, state universities will be forced to divert scarce resources currently spent purchasing intellectual property licenses, buying hundreds of thousands of library books, and educating millions of students.”
UPCOMING EVENTS
SEPTEMBER 10 AAU/APLU 2020 UNIVERSITY INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP SHOWCASE; Rayburn Cafeteria, Rayburn House Office Building, 45 Independence Avenue SW. 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. ET. More information available here.