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House Members Seek 7% Increase for NIH

A group of 99 members of the House of Representatives, including Washington’s Adam Smith (9th District), signed-on to a letter to House appropriators asking them to provide the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with a 7% budget increase in FY11. The President’s FY11 budget request seeks a 3% increase for NIH. The debate over funding for NIH will play out over much of the sping and summer. The letter initiated by Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), states that, “NIH research is a critical part of meeting health care challenges, strengthening our economy, inspiring the next generation of scientists and researchers, and maintaining our nation’s leadership in innovation.”

Some within the beltway have speculated that mid-term elections could result in a continuing resolution or level funding for FY11. However, it remains too early in the process to draw such a conclusion, and Congress is moving forward in regular order with the appropriations process.

Patent Reform Legislation Re-Crafted in the Senate

The Senate has released an amended version of S. 515, the Patent Reform Act of 2009 that appears to address many of the hopes for a simplified, and increasingly objective and transparent patent system in the United States. Two reforms included in the legislation that are key to the higher education community include: harmonizing U.S. law with that of the international community by adopting a first-inventor-to-file procedure, and improving patent quality and reducing litigation costs by creating a post-grant administrative procedure for challenging patents in their first year. Several higher education associations have expressed support for the amended legislation. In the associations’ letter it is noted that the substitute amendment “represents the successful culmination of a thorough, balanced effort to update the nation’s patent reform system to support more effectively the nation’s innovative capacity in the increasingly competitive global environment of the 21st century.”

At this time, it is unclear when the legislation will advance further in the Senate, and several challenges appear likely on the House side. In the coming weeks, Federal Relations will be briefing WA delegation staffers on the impact of the legislation at UW. Interested members of the UW community are encouraged to contact the Office of Federal Relations.

President Signs Health and Student Aid Reconciliation Bill

Yesterday, President Obama signed a bill of “fixes,” worked out between the House and Senate, to the health insurance reform bill that was signed into law last week. The changes, advanced as part of a budget reconciliation package, included the much anticipated overhaul of the federal student loan programs.

The March Federal Report, provided on the right-side user bar of this website, provides coverage of the health insurance and student aid legislation.

NSF Dear Colleague Letter: Climate, Energy, and Sustainability

NSF 10-040
Dear Colleague Letter: Climate, Energy, and Sustainability

Directorate for Biological Sciences, Directorate for Computer & Information Science and Engineering, Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Directorate for Engineering, Directorate for Geosciences, Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, Office of Cyberinfrastructure, Office of Integrative Activities, Office of International Science and Engineering, Office of Polar Programs

March 2010

In FY 2010, NSF is expanding its support for climate research by issuing five new cross-directorate solicitations:

Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC) (NSF 10-524) -closed
Ocean Acidification (OA) (NSF 10-530) -closed
Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) (NSF 10-542)
Decadal and Regional Climate Prediction Using Earth System Models (EaSM) (NSF 10-554)
Dimensions of Biodiversity (NSF 10-548)

These solicitations are intended to support innovative research and education that will advance our capability and capacity to understand and predict changes to Earth’s natural and human-dominated systems, to assess the vulnerability and resilience of these systems to change, and to foster workforce development and scientific literacy in these areas. These advances will strengthen the scientific knowledge base for policy decisions at regional and national levels. Continue reading “NSF Dear Colleague Letter: Climate, Energy, and Sustainability”

America COMPETES Reauthorization Moving Forward

Congress is well on its way to reauthorizing the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science (COMPETES) Act. COMPETES was fist authorized in 2007, with bi-partisan support. The law is designed to maintain and enhance US innovation in the 21st Century through three areas of focus: (1) increasing research investment, (2) strengthening educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from elementary through graduate school, and (3) developing an innovation infrastructure.  Staff in the House and Senate are both actively engaged in the reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act. On the House side, the House Science Committee is leading the charge, while on the Senate side, it’s a bipartisan group led by Senators Bingaman (D-NM) and Alexander (R-TN) with staff from the Senate Energy Committee; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; and Appropriations Committees. Key points on the overall bill:

  • Both the House and Senate hope to have the bills passed in their respective chambers by Memorial Day, with a conference agreement completed by the July 4th recess.  The House has held several hearings on a variety of COMPETES topics; Senate Commerce has had one hearing and we don’t anticipate many more. 
  • At this point, the House is considering a 5-year authorization (beginning in FY11). The Senate may push for a shorter authorization (3 years), similar to the initial bill in order to satisfy fiscal watchdogs.  Given the current fiscal environment, there will likely be opposition to the bill in both the House and Senate simply based on its cost.  
  • The House and Senate bills will both likely keep the 3 core agencies (NSF, NIST, DOE Office of Science) on the 7% increase path outlined in COMPETES I. The energy title of America COMPETES would combine three authorization bills that provide funding for DoE Office of Science (HR 4905), Advanced Research Projects Agency -Energy (ARPA-E) (HR 4906), and Energy Innovation Hubs (HR 4907). Taken together, the three authorization bills would increase funding for DOE’s science office, ARPA-E program and so-called energy innovation “hubs” to $6.63 billion in fiscal 2011, eventually up to $9.36 billion by 2015. For FY11, several members of the Washington congressional delegation (Baird, Inslee, and McDermott) have expressed support for sustained funding for the relatively new ARPA-E.
  • Neither bill will likely include NOAA or NASA. The House Science Committee will pursue NASA legislation and a NOAA Organic Act separately. Senate Commerce may push to include NOAA, but the minority may balk at this since NOAA can be linked to climate change issues. Including NASA is seen as a non-starter on both sides, especially given questions and concerns surrounding its FY11 budget request.