President Biden Announces Intent to Nominate Dr. Bertagnolli as NIH Director

Posted on May 15, 2023May 15, 2023

President Biden announced today his intent to nominate Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Dr. Bertagnolli is currently the Director of the National Cancer Institute and was previously the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery in the field of surgical oncology at Harvard Medical School, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a member of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment and Sarcoma Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Read more about Dr. Bertagnolli and President Biden’s statement here.

President Biden & Speaker McCarthy Set to Meet Tuesday to Discuss the Debt Ceiling

Posted on May 8, 2023May 15, 2023

President Biden, Speaker McCarthy, and other congressional leaders are set to meet on Tuesday to discuss raising the debt ceiling amidst the ongoing political standoff and renewed urgency given the Treasury Department’s warning that the government could default on its debt as soon as June 1. House Republicans passed their debt ceiling bill last week that would increase the debt ceiling while cutting federal spending by more than $3.5 trillion over the coming decade. The plan would cut discretionary spending by an average of 18% over the next decade with little detail on which programs would be cut or spared. The New York Times estimates that if defense, veterans’ health, and border security are spared (which has been discussed), the remaining programs would have to be cut by half. The bill also includes provisions that repeal some of the Biden administration’ priorities including the plan to cancel student loan debt.

House Democrats meanwhile are calling for an increase in the debt ceiling without conditions (which was done multiple times during the Trump presidency) but the House Republicans claim they will not budge. Tuesday will be the first time in seven months that President Biden and Speaker McCarthy will meet to discuss this issue which will a critical to see if any progress can be made.

New Resource: Navigating the NIH Grant Application Process

Posted on May 4, 2023

The NIH Office for Extramural Research recently shared a new resource that helps clarify and simplify the process of submitting an NIH grant applictation. The infographic shares resources, tips, key actions, and institution- and investigator-specific information which could be helpful for those interested in submitting NIH grant applications and for the research community more broadly. As always, please refer to UW’s Office of Sponsored Research for more information.

To read more about the NIH resource, click here.

House Republicans Expected to Vote on Debt Ceiling Bill Today

Posted on April 26, 2023

House Republicans are expected to bring their proposal to raise the debt ceiling to the House floor for a vote today. Assuming no Democrats vote in favor, Speaker McCarthy can only afford to lose four Republican votes due to the slim majority in the House. The debt ceiling is the cap for how much the U.S. government can borrow from the Treasury to fulfill its financial obligations. The U.S. technically hit its debt limit at the end of January leading the Treasury to use “extraordinary measures” to be able to continue paying. Once these measures run out, the U.S. could default on its debt with extreme consequences to the global economy, however both Democrats and Republicans have stated that they are committed to avoiding this fate, requiring them to come to agreement on raising the debt ceiling.

The Republicans are expected to bring their bill to the floor which raises the debt ceiling in conjunction with spending cuts and a series of other GOP priorities. The bill is not expected to go to the Senate even if it passes the House, but rather is part of Speaker McCarthy’s strategy to bring President Biden to the table and strengthen the Republican stake in negotiations. The most recent discussion between the two on the issue was back on February 1st. Read more about this here and follow live updates here.

House E&C Subcommittee Hearing: Federal Funding for a Strong Health Workforce

Posted on April 24, 2023

Last week, the House Committee on Energy & Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health held a hearing entitled “Examining Existing Federal Programs to Build a Stronger Health Workforce and Improve Primary Care”. The Subcommittee heard from Carole Johnson, an Administrator for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), on the state of HRSA programs today that support the overall health ecosystem from workforce development to flexibilities within the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. For context, the hearing memo cites the expected workforce shortage of “17,210 primary care physician full-time equivalents (FTE) and a 20 percent decrease of behavioral health workers by 2030“, demonstrating the urgency for continued federal support.

Washington’s Representative McMorris Rodgers, Chair of the House E&C Committee, expressed her support for considering 8 different bills, including the Strengthening Community Care Act of 2023, which reauthorizes the Community Health Center Fund and National Health Service Corps; the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program; and the National Nursing Workforce Center Act of 2023, among others. As Congress gears up to develop its budget for fiscal year 2024, this hearing helped bring to the forefront the need to continue funding programs that strengthen U.S. public healthcare systems.

Read and watch Chair Rodgers’ opening statement here, and read more about the full hearing and proposed legislation here.