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Category: Health/Medical

Today in Congress

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The Senate is in at 10:00am and will vote on a number of amendments to and final passage of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (S 47). It is expected to pass. The Senate will recess from 12:30pm to 2:15pm for weekly party caucus lunches.

The House returns at noon and will consider three bills under suspension of the rules: the Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act (HR 267), the Collinsville Renewable Energy Promotion Act (HR 316), and the Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act (HR 235). The House will recess no later than 5:30pm to allow a security sweep of the chamber prior to President Obama’s State of the Union address.

At 8:20pm, the Senate will proceed to the House of Representatives for President Obama’s State of the Union address, set for 9:00pm. The House will meet again at about 8:35pm for the purpose of receiving, in a joint session with the Senate, the President of the United States.

Bill Introduced to Protect NIH from Sequestration

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Today, Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) joined his colleagues to introduce a bill to stop the across-the-board budget cuts scheduled for March 1st with a balance of increased revenue and sensible investments. The Balancing Act will halt impending automatic federal budget cuts, known as “sequester,” which would threaten important national investments like those in medical research—a staple of Washington State’s economy.  Read more here.

 

GME Legislation Introduced

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Yesterday Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced the Primary Care Workforce Access Improvement Act of 2013 (HR 487).  Their bill promotes the training of primary care physicians in rural areas and tests innovative and cost-neutral ways to distribute graduate medical education (GME) payments for the purpose of increasing the number and quality of primary care physicians in the United States. This could prove helpful to the UW WWAMI program, which focuses on producing primary care physicians for a five-state region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho). Learn more here.

Sequestration would be a “Devastating Blow” to NIH

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NIH Director Francis Collins calls the potential cuts from sequestration a “profound and devastating blow” for medical research. If Congress cannot find a way to achieve debt reduction without massive federal spending cuts, NIH will lose 6.4 percent of its budget this year.  This could hurt the availability of research grants.  Currently, 80 percent of NIH funding goes to university and medical school researchers but the odds of award have been declining in recent years.  According to Collins, only one in six of those that apply receive grants; the chances used to be one in three.  And all of this could get much worse if sequestration is implemented.

Read more at Politico.com.

NIH Announces New Director of CSR

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On December 3rd, NIH Director Francis Collins announced the selection of Richard Nakamura, Ph.D., as the new director of the NIH’s Center for Scientific Review (CSR). Dr. Nakamura has been serving as the acting director of CSR since September 2011 and has previously been both the scientific director and the deputy director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Find more information in the NIH press release at: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/dec2012/od-03.htm.