AAAS Policy
Alert -- November 11, 2009
Budget News
On November 5 the full Senate passed its version of the Commerce, Science, Justice and Related
Agencies (H.R. 2847)
appropriations bill. The Senate version includes the following R&D
spending figures: for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), $11.2 billion ($611 million more than the House); for the
National Science Foundation (NSF), $5.2 billion ($14 million less than
the House); for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), $700 million ($22 million more than the House); and for the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), $672 million
($96 million more than the House). Sen. Coburn's (R-OK) amendment (SA
2631) to the bill, which would have prohibited funding of the
Political Science program at the National Science Foundation, failed
but garnered 36 votes.
Three appropriation bills -- Defense; Commerce, Science and Justice and
Related Agencies; and Transportation, all with significant R&D
components -- have been passed by both the House and Senate and are
waiting to be discussed in conference committee, but no date has been
set for those discussions. The Senate still has four spending bills to
pass. For an update on the current status of appropriations, see the AAAS R&D Budget Web site.
Other Congressional News
Senate Committee Approves
Climate Bill. Last week, Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee Democrats reported out climate
legislation over the objections of the panel's Republicans. The
minority had boycotted the mark-up meetings in an attempt to delay the
vote until after another EPA impact analysis. The bill was approved
10-1, with Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) casting the
lone Nay vote, and did not include any amendments in order to comply
with committee rules that require the presence of at least two members
of the minority party. Meanwhile, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-MA), lead
sponsor of the climate bill, announced
Wednesday a separate track of negotiations over climate policy.
Senators Kerry, Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) plan to
develop a compromise bill that is "good for the environment, good for
business, and makes us energy independent" and could garner 60 votes in
the Senate.
Adaptation Bill Introduced.
Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Max Baucus (D-MT), Sheldon Whitehouse
(D-RI), and Tom Udall (D-NM) introduced "The Natural Resources Climate
Adaptation Act of 2009" (S. 1933). The bill, which is similar to text
in the Kerry-Boxer climate bill, would authorize a fund to help states
adapt to the effects of climate change and direct federal agencies to
develop a national strategy on adaptation.
AAAS Co-hosts Hill Briefing on
Climate Change and the Coasts. On November 9 AAAS and the
Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS) held a
briefing for staff members of congressional offices, federal agencies,
and non-governmental organizations, at which leading scientific and
policy experts discussed climate change impacts and adaptation options
for coastal regions. Details and slides from presentations are at the event's
web site.
Geo-engineering Strategies to be
Analyzed. The Science and Technology Committees of the U.S.
House of Representatives and the U.K. House of Commons will hold
parallel hearings on geo-engineering approaches to climate change. The
effort, announced
by U.S. Committee chair Bart Gordon (D-TN), may mark an initial step
toward international rule-making on this issue. On a related note, the
non-profit Climate Response Fund will hold a meeting
next March to develop rules for conducting geo-engineering field
experiments and examine the risks of a variety of geo-engineering
approaches.
Senate Committee Votes Out WMD
Bill. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Committee held its second mark-up of the Weapons of Mass Destruction
Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2009 (S. 1649)
last week and approved the bill by a vote of 8-1. The bill would create
a new tiered system for regulating high-containment laboratories that
conduct research on select-agent toxins and pathogens, and would
require that new personnel reliability measures be implemented at
institutions that conduct research on high-risk pathogens. AAAS
submitted comments
on the bill earlier last week, and Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) cited the
AAAS letter during the mark-up. Levin was the sole dissenting vote at
the mark-up.
Executive
Branch
Clinton Names First Science
Envoys. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced
the first three scientists who have agreed to represent the U.S. as
science envoys under a new program announced by President Obama in his
Cairo speech last spring: Bruce Alberts, editor-in-chief of Science and
former president of the National Academy of Sciences; Elias Zerhouni,
former director of the National Institutes of Health and Senior
Scientific Advisor to Science
Translational Medicine; and Ahmed Zewail, a Nobel laureate
chemist at the California Institute of Technology. Envoys will travel
to North Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia to promote
scientific collaboration between the U.S. and predominantly Muslim
nations.
Gene Patent Lawsuit to Go
Forward. A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit challenging
patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer
(BRCA1 and BRCA2) can go forward. U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet has
denied a request by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and patent
holders Myriad Genetics and the University of Utah Research Foundation
to dismiss the case. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit
in May. The case could have wide-ranging implications for the practice
of patenting genes.
People in the News. - On
November 5 the Senate confirmed Patrick
Gallagher to be Director of the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST). In his position as Deputy Director, Gallagher
had served as NIST's acting director since September 2008.
- Tara O'Toole was confirmed
by the Senate on November 4 to be Under Secretary for S&T at the
Department of Homeland Security.
Elsewhere
Gates Foundation Spotlights
Government Global Health Funding. The Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation recently launched the Living
Proof Project, designed to tout the positive impacts of government
investments in global health, highlighting initiatives to combat
malaria, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases.
FASEB Studies Growth Trends for
Biological and Medical Science Graduate Students and Postdocs.
Drawing on multiple data sources, FASEB
has released a new compilation of data indicating that the number
of graduate students and postdocs in the biological and medical
sciences continues to grow. The growth rate has slowed for temporary
residents, while the growth rate for U.S. citizens and permanent
residents during 2003-2007 exceeded that of temporary residents for the
first time since the mid-1990s.
Texans Endorse National Research
University Fund.
Voters in Texas have approved a plan that would provide funding of
about $25
million per year for faculty salaries, graduate student stipends
and other uses intended to help seven emerging research universities
(UT-Dallas, UT-Arlington, UT-El Paso, UT-San Antonio, Texas Tech
University, the University of Houston and the University of North
Texas) strive for higher positions on the national scene, alongside the
state's three current "top tier" universities: UT-Austin, Texas A&M
University, and Rice University.
UK Scientists Issue "Principles"
in Response to Government Advisor's Dismissal. In response to
the recent
firing of David Nutt, a former U.K. advisor who publicly criticized
government drug policy, a number of senior scientists and advisors
issued "Principles
for the Treatment of Independent Scientific Advice" in order to
protest what they see as a threat to academic freedom, independence of
operation, and proper consideration of advice.
Evolution to Have a Place in UK
Primary Curriculum. After years of lobbying by scientists, the
British government is ready to add evolution to the primary school
curriculum for the first time, according to a
report in The Guardian.
Schools minister Diana Johnson confirmed to the newspaper that
evolution will be included in a blueprint for a new curriculum to be
published in several weeks. An open letter by scientists and science
educators had called on the government to make the change after draft
versions of the new curriculum failed to mention evolution explicitly.
Current and archived issues of AAAS
Policy Alert can be found at http://www.aaas.org/spp/
Publisher: Alan I. Leshner
Editor: Steve Nelson
Contributors: Joanne Carney, Patrick Clemins,
Erin Heath, Earl Lane, Gretchen Seiler, Al Teich, Ric Weibl, Jamie
Wheeler, Kasey White, Brad Wible
NOTE: The AAAS Policy Alert is a newsletter provided to AAAS Members to
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