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News and updates

Seen in DC

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Even though the appropriations application process is completed, and the stimulus package is being implemented, the Office of Federal Relations continues to welcome university representatives who are in Washington DC for meetings or who want to speak with Capitol Hill staff and/or agency representatives concerning the projects that their college is involved in.

Norm Arkans, Associate Vice President for Media Relations and Communications, was in DC the end of March to attend a public affairs network meeting hosted by the Association of American Universities (AAU).

Dennis Lettenmaier, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was in DC to attend a meeting, and stopped by the Federal Relations office to speak to Jonathan Nurse about NASA and NOAA funding.

Provost Phyllis Wise, Provost, was in DC on business March 30 and 31, and visited the Federal Relations Office while she was here to meet with Director Christy Gullion.

President Mark Emmert returned to DC in April to attend a workforce meeting of the Association of American Universities.  After the meeting, he met with some of the Washington State legislators, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, Dick Sprott, Director of the Ellison Medical Foundation, and was interviewed by Susan Kinzie at the Washington Post regarding the effect of the economic crisis on the university.  He thanked the Members for their support during the appropriations process and discussed the university’s economic situation.

Also in April  Bruce Bare, Dean of Forest Resources, Jerry Franklin, Professor, and Ivan Easin, Professor and Director of CINTRAFOR, arrived to discuss university forest resource projects.  In particular, they discusssed the Olympic Natural Resources Center, the Wind River Experimental Forest, and CINTRAFOR.  Visits included Capitol Hill staff, USDA, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee staffer, and the National Science Foundation.

Student Advocates for Graduate Education (SAGE), whose members number 10 public institutions of higher learning, was in DC April 28th and 29th.  The University of Washington was represented by Nicholas Nasrallah, Jake Faleschini, and Jean-Paul Willynck.  They spoke to staff in several Congressional offices to request support for changes in the federal loan repayment program and to request fellowship grants be treated as qualified scholarships for tax purposes.

Note:  Please contact the UW Office of Federal Relations for assistance in scheuling visits to the Washington state delegation offices (202-624-1420).

Senate Finance Committee Releases Options to Improve Patient Care and Reduce Costs

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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have released a set of policy options for transforming the health care delivery system to improve patient care and reduce health care costs.

Among other options, their proposals would:

  • Establish a Medicare value-based purchasing program for hospitals and begin to pay hospitals for their actual performance on quality measures beginning in 2013;
  • Reduce payments to hospitals with high readmission rates for certain conditions;
  • Bundle payments for hospital and post-acute care services within 30 days of hospital discharge;
  • Redistribute unused graduate medical education slots to increase access to primary care; and
  • Ban physician self-referral to a hospital in which the physician has an ownership interest, subject to certain requirements.

Senate Finance Committee Policy Options

Obama Administrations Seeks Input on Scientific Openness

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Provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The President is championing a new climate of openness, collaboration, transparency and accountability in government, as well as respect for maintaining the integrity of science in governmental agencies. Your help is requested in developing guidelines to enable these goals to be achieved. For science to guide our government’s policy decisions, it is imperative that scientific data be credible and methodologies be transparent. The same goes for the selection of scientists and science policy experts for positions within the executive branch.

President Obama has recently asked the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to develop a comprehensive strategy to guarantee the highest level of scientific integrity in the executive branch. The OSTP is seeking your recommendations on a number of key principles:

  • What are the best ways to measure the knowledge, credentials, experience and integrity of a candidate for a science and technology position in the executive branch?
  • How can the integrity of scientific processes by assured? What are some good examples to learn from?
  • What are the most effective processes and organizational structures for assuring that scientific and technological information is reliable? How can the processes and structures used in each case best be disclosed as part of the public record?
  • What are the best ways to maximize the legitimate public release of scientific and technological information relied upon by agencies?
  • How can agencies best ensure that they will know when scientific or technological integrity has been compromised?
  • What are the best ways to make sure that the science and technology an agency relies on is reliable?

Many of you have first-hand experience grappling with these issues on a daily basis. I encourage each of you to seize this special opportunity to offer your input. The deadline for public comment is May 13. You can learn more about how to submit your comments to the OSTP by visiting www.ostp.gov and clicking on the “Scientific Integrity” link.

NHA Releases FY10 Budget Advocacy Update

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Provided by the National Humanities Alliance

NATIONAL HUMANITIES ALLIANCE TESTIFIES FOR INCREASED NEH FUNDING

On Thursday, April 23, National Humanities Alliance Vice President and American Council of Learned Societies President, Pauline Yu, testified before the House Interior, Environment, & Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee for increased funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Ms. Yu urged the Subcommittee to provide the National Endowment for the Humanities with funding of at least $230 million in Fiscal Year 2010, including an additional $50 million for competitive grant programs and $25 million for operating grants to state humanities councils, over the FY 2009 enacted level.

She cited the value of the humanities to our nation’s long-term economic well-being, and to our continued status as a world leader. She highlighted the demand for humanities grants by explaining how in FY 2008, applications for NEH grants in all programs represented $421 million in requested funds, more than three times the program dollars obligated for that year.  At the national level, only 16% of competitive, peer-reviewed project proposals were funded, compared to a 26% funding rate for merit-reviewed projects at the National Science Foundation (an agency similar to NEH in its connection to higher education and its mission to strengthen education and research at all levels in its sector). Continue reading “NHA Releases FY10 Budget Advocacy Update”