CONTENTS
BUDGET, APPROPRIATIONS, TAX ISSUES
- House Appropriations Committee Approves FY16 Commerce-Justice-Science Bill
- House Subcommittee Okays FY16 Defense Appropriations Bill
- Senate Appropriations Committee Marks Up FY16 Energy and Water Bill
- Senate Appropriators Approve Subcommittee Allocations
OTHER CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES
- House Approves America COMPETES Act
- Senators Introduce Reauthorization Bill for Energy Programs in America COMPETES Act
- House and Senate Panels Delay Markups of Patent Legislation
- Senate HELP Committee Creates Working Groups on HEA Reauthorization
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
- AAU Submits Comments to NIH on Sustainability of the Biomedical Workforce
BUDGET, APPROPRIATIONS, TAX ISSUES
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE APPROVES FY16 COMMERCE-JUSTICE-SCIENCE BILL
The House Appropriations Committee on May 20 approved the FY16 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill by voice vote, with no amendments affecting the National Science Foundation (NSF) or NASA. As reported previously, the measure totals $51.4 billion, an increase of $1.3 billion over the FY15 level and $661 million below the President’s request. It includes an additional $50 million for NSF and an additional $519 million for NASA. (See the May 15 AAU Weekly Wrap-up for additional details.)
The committee report on the bill contains language that directs NSF to dedicate 70 percent of its funding to four research directorates: engineering, biological sciences, computer sciences, and mathematics & physical sciences, with international, integrative, and Arctic Commission activities held at their FY15 levels.
As described in the letter sent to appropriators by the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), this report language could cause NSF to cut $250 million, or 16 percent of the combined budget, from its geosciences and social & behavioral sciences directorates.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a detailed review of its concerns about the funding levels and requirements in the bill. The letter to committee leaders from OMB Director Shaun Donovan also discusses the broader issue of sequestration funding levels, reiterating the President’s statement that he will not accept a fix to defense spending without also fixing nondefense spending.
HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE OKAYS FY16 DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS BILL
In a closed markup on May 20, the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee approved its FY16 funding bill by voice vote.
As described in the Committee press release, the measure would provide $67.9 billion for research and development, an increase of $4 billion above the FY15 level. The Committee has not indicated specific funding levels for Defense-wide or individual service basic and applied research accounts. However, the press release notes that the bill separately includes $252 million for cancer research and $100 million for traumatic brain injury and psychological heath research.
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE MARKS UP FY16 ENERGY AND WATER BILL
The Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21 approved its FY16 Energy and Water funding bill. The measure provides $1.2 billion more than the FY15 funding level and is $668 million below the President’s request.
The bill would fund the Department of Energy Office of Science at $5.144 billion, a $73 million increase over FY15 funding and $44 million above the House level. For ARPA-E, the bill would provide $291 million, an $11 million increase over both FY15 funding and the House level. Additionally, the measure would zero out funding for the international fusion experiment, ITER, which the House would fund at $150 million.
SENATE APPROPRIATORS APPROVE SUBCOMMITTEE ALLOCATIONS
The Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21 approved its FY16 302(b) resolution dividing discretionary spending among the panel’s 12 subcommittees. CQ reports that the measure, adopted on a party-line vote, adheres to the sequester-level spending caps approved in the Congressional budget resolution. It would reduce funding from FY15 for the Labor-HHS-Education bill, which includes resources for the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Education. Democrats asserted that the allocations would short-change investments in key national priorities.
OTHER CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES
HOUSE APPROVES AMERICA COMPETES ACT
The House on May 20 approved the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 1806) by a vote of 217 to 205, with no Democratic support. Twenty-three Republicans also voted no.
The bill, which provides a two-year authorization for the National Science Foundation (NSF), certain Department of Energy (DOE) research programs, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), would cut authorized funding for social and behavioral sciences and geosciences at NSF and give Congress greater control over the agency’s funding priorities. For DOE, the bill would significantly cut funding for energy efficiency and renewable programs as well as ARPA-E, and bar the use of DOE-supported R&D activities for regulatory activities.
Among the amendments adopted by the House were the following:
· An amendment by Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) to add $5 million to the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership program by reducing funding by that amount for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy;
· An amendment by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) authorizing NSF to create workshops to instruct teachers in robotics and other STEM-related learning; and
· An amendment by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) that would allow the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader to appoint members to several science advisory boards.
AAU and many other academic and scientific organizations have expressed serious concern about H.R. 1806. AAU issued a statement opposing the bill when it was introduced.
SENATORS INTRODUCE REAUTHORIZATION BILL FOR ENERGY PROGRAMS IN AMERICA COMPETES ACT
A bipartisan group of seven Senators, led by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Chris Coons (D-DE), on May 20 introduced legislation (S. 1398) to reauthorize the energy programs in the America COMPETES Act.
Among other provisions, the bill would authorize an annual four-percent increase in funding for basic energy research, and reauthorize the DOE Office of Science and ARPA-E for five years. The bill will be considered by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this summer as part of its effort to develop broad energy legislation.
Senator Alexander said in his press release that the bill would “put us on the path to double basic energy research—one of the best ways to keep good-paying jobs from going overseas—while streamlining basic energy research programs in the U.S. Department of Energy.”
Senator Coons said in the release, “I am proud that we are able to introduce this bill today and build on the bipartisan support for scientific research that Congress has already demonstrated by authorizing America COMPETES twice before. By investing in predictable and sustainable funding for energy science research, we can encourage the innovation and technological advances that are the hallmark of American leadership.”
Senator Alexander is the chairman and Senator Coons is a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water. The cosponsors include the chair and ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell, (D-WA), and Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who is ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Martin Heinrich (D-NM).
HOUSE AND SENATE PANELS DELAY MARKUPS OF PATENT LEGISLATION
The House and Senate judiciary committees have postponed consideration of their respective versions of patent legislation until after the Memorial Day recess, reports Politico.
This means that the House Judiciary Committee will not mark up Chairman Bob Goodlatte’s (R-VA) bill, the Innovation Act (H.R. 9), until the first week of June. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told the publication that consideration of his panel’s bill, the PATENT Act, (S. 1137), was delayed because of ongoing negotiations over adding a provision that would change post-America Invents Act U.S. Patent and Trademark Office processes for challenging patents.
A group of 144 universities issued a statement of concern about the Innovation Act on February 24. The six higher education associations that have been working together on patent reform, including AAU, issued this statement when the Senate PATENT Act was introduced on April 30.
SENATE HELP COMMITTEE CREATES WORKING GROUPS ON HEA REAUTHORIZATION
Senate HELP Committee leaders on May 21 announced that they were creating four working groups for committee members and staff that will address four major sets of issues facing lawmakers as they begin rewriting the Higher Education Act.
The bipartisan working groups will focus on accountability, accreditation, college affordability and financial aid, and campus sexual assault. They plan to start their work shortly and wrap up by July.
Staff is still working out the operational details.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
AAU SUBMITS COMMENTS TO NIH ON SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BIOMEDICAL WORKFORCE
AAU on May 17 submitted comments to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the agency’s request for information on the sustainability of the biomedical workforce and the future of biomedical research.
The AAU comments expressed concern about the regulatory burden imposed on researchers and universities that receive NIH funding. As an example, the letter pointed out that principal investigators (PIs) are taking scores of hours in total to comply with the new requirement for a PI’s biographical data (bio sketch), for uncertain gains in terms of collecting useful information. The comments also pointed out that the NIH institutional review board (IRB) regulations are duplicative and that the multi-site IRB requirements are slowing down research. In addition, AAU remains concerned about the scarcity of funding for new investigators, the resulting lengthening of time until investigators receive their first research award, and the harm this is doing to those individuals’ careers.