March 31, 2010
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… Read More
March 31, 2010
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… Read More
March 31, 2010
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… Read More
March 30, 2010
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… Read More
March 30, 2010
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)… Read More
March 24, 2010
**UPDATE: The Federal Report, provided on the right-side user bar of this website, provides greater coverage of the health insurance and student aid legislation. After more than a year of debate, on Sunday March 21st, the House of Representatives voted 219-212 to approve the Senate’s health insurance reform package, which passed that body in December. Additionally,… Read More
March 23, 2010
On the Senate Floor The Senate is expected to vote Monday on amendments to the FAA reauthorization bill (HR 1586). Later in the week, the Senate is likely to take up the budget reconciliation (HR 4872) package for a health care overhaul that the House passed on Sunday, March 21, and a bill extending expiring… Read More
March 18, 2010
Shortly after receipt of a Cognressional Budget Office (CBO) score that found that the health insurance and student aid overhauls would reduce the deficit by roughly $138 billion over the next years ($1.2 trillion over the next 10 years), the Democratic leadership in Congress posted the details of the bill on-line -as they had promised… Read More
March 15, 2010
The House may take up the Senate-passed health care overhaul (HR 3590) bill this week as part of a two-step strategy to complete the legislation. The House schedule also includes: a number of lands and government operations bills, including HR 1769, Washington rivers protection; bills to simplify language in government documents; to put Congressional Budget… Read More
March 12, 2010
Since the end of November when the last “Seen in DC” article was posted, the Federal Relations office in DC has been extremely busy working with UW faculty, staff, and student leaders to facilitate advocacy meetings with the Washington congressional delegation. This is, however, not unusual for this time of year; winter has traditionally been… Read More
