October 20, 2010
The Ad-Hoc Group for Medical Research, in collaboration with the Association of American Universities (AAU) drafted a letter to congress, urging them to provide NIH with the proposed $1 billion dollar increase in the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill. The increase was proposed by the administration and supported by both the House and Senate Labor-HHS-Ed subcommittees. The… Read More
September 22, 2010
The DREAM Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants who attend college or the military and was rolled into the Senate’s defense authorization bill, failed to pass a crucial vote yesterday. Requiring 60 votes to pass, the motion failed by a vote of 56 to 43. Because the motion did not pass,… Read More
August 25, 2010
On Tuesday, Federal District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth issued a preliminary injunction which prohibits the federal government from funding any and all human embryonic stem cell research citing a pending lawsuit that contends that embryonic stem cell research violates the so called Dickey-Wicker provision. The Dickey-Wicker provision bars funding for “research in which a… Read More
August 5, 2010
The Senate today passed a crucial amendment that will help states avoid education job losses, and provides desperately needed Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) payments to states . The FMAP/Teacher Jobs Bill passed the senate on a vote of 61-39 and will now be sent to the House where most expect it to pass and then sent to… Read More
July 26, 2010
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has approved — with bi-partisan support — its portion of the America COMPETES Act (S. 3605). The bill provides for three-year authorizations for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). An authorization for the Department of Energy Office of Science is… Read More
July 23, 2010
With it being an election year, many lawmakers have been avoiding the politically charged topic of comprehensive immigration reform, making it unlikely that it will advance before the end of the year. However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) may attempt to push through the DREAM Act as a stand-alone piece of legislation before the… Read More
July 8, 2010
On Tuesday Senator Maria Cantwell held a press conference in Seattle regarding the need for better research and development on oil spill prevention and response. She announced that she will soon chair a hearing and introduce legislation that will require the oil industry to incorporate the latest and best technologies into their oil spill prevention… Read More
June 30, 2010
On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Justice-Science approved its FY11 draft bill, which would provide $60.5 billion in discretionary spending. The draft measure would provide $3.9 billion (6 percent) less than 2010 levels, mostly because of the significant increase provided last year to perform the census, and just $2.7 million less than President Obama… Read More
June 28, 2010
Members of Congress face a busy week as they attempt to advance some major bills before the start of the July Fourth recess. At the same time, the FY11 appropriations process may also begin to gear up this week and move forward after the July recess period. House Democrats would like to approve the FY10… Read More
June 25, 2010
On Thursday, Senate Democrats failed for a third time to pass a jobs and economic relief bill (tax extenders bill). Republicans rejected the $100 billion-plus package, which included payments to states to cover for Medicaid costs and an extension of unemployment benefits. This latest version of the bill reduced the original $24 billion in new… Read More
