AAAS Policy
Alert -- November 25, 2009
Budget News
The Senate passed its Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (H.R. 3082) appropriations bill on November 17. The bill contains $580 million for medical and prosthetic research which is typically matched by other federal grants for a total of $1.2 billion in R&D. A small percentage of military construction, typically around $200 million, is for R&D facilities and equipment. The Senate still has three appropriations bills to pass: Labor/HHS/Education (which includes NIH); State and Foreign Operations; and Financial Services. Three bills still waiting to be discussed in conference committee have significant R&D components -- Defense; Commerce, Science and Justice and Related Agencies; and Transportation -- but no dates have yet been set for those discussions. Both chambers are in recess this week for the Thanksgiving holiday. For more details on the current status of appropriations, see the AAAS R&D Budget Web site.
Other Congressional News
Senate Committee Approves Michaels Nomination. Last week the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved by voice vote the nomination of David Michaels to serve as head of the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), bypassing a confirmation hearing. Both Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC) requested that the record note that they each voted "no" on Michaels' nomination, which may portend difficulties when his nomination reaches the Senate floor.
Executive
Branch
Administration Launches STEM
Education Partnerships. The White House has announced a series
of partnerships involving leading companies, foundations, teachers, and
scientists and engineers to motivate students to excel in science and
math. The campaign, called "Educate to Innovate," has received an
initial commitment of more than $260 million from private sector
partners such as Sesame Street, Discovery Communications, Intel, Xerox,
Kodak, Time Warner Cable, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation. The text of President Obama's November 23
remarks on the campaign are available here.
IG Report: Oversight of
Financial Conflicts of Interest is Lacking. The Inspector
General for the Department of Health and Human Services submitted a report
to the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the
management of financial conflicts of interest by institutions that
receive NIH research grants. According to the IG report, "Ninety
percent of the grantee institutions rely solely on researchers'
discretion to determine which of their significant financial interests
are related to their research and are therefore required to be
reported." The IG recommended that NIH increase its oversight of
grantee institutions and strengthen regulation of financial conflicts
of interest.
New Report Disputes Need for
Replacement Warheads. A report by a JASON panel
made public last week concludes that the existing process of
refurbishing the aging U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons is sufficient
to guarantee their reliability and that the Reliable Replacement
Warhead (RRW) program proposed by the Bush Administration is not
needed. The report
undermines the argument by advocates of the RRW that the U.S. should
retain the right to test new nuclear weapons and therefore should not
ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the Obama
Administration supports and intends to submit to the Senate in the next
few months.
Commerce Department Forming
Innovation Advisory Group. The Department of Commerce Office
of Innovation and Entrepreneurship issued a notice seeking
nominations of individuals to serve on a new Advisory Council on
Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The Office
of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is a new office created by
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in September. Its mission is to
accelerate the commercialization of federally supported R&D;
strengthen collaboration; facilitate access to capital; and explore
policy incentives. The Advisory Council is to be comprised of
individuals from the business, financial, and non-profit communities
who have "proven experience in innovation and entrepreneurship."
Nominations are due November 30.
People in the News. - Eric D. Green has been appointed
director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH. He is
currently the NHGRI scientific director and director of the NHGRI
Division of Intramural Research. He is the first permanent director
since the departure of Francis Collins in May 2008. Alan Guttmacher, who had been acting
director of NHGRI, will become acting director of the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development on December 1.
- Paul Alivisatos, a
chemist whose research involves nanotechnology and its applications,
has been named director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
He had been serving as interim director since Nobel-laureate Steven
Chu, the previous director, was named Secretary of Energy by President
Obama.
Elsewhere
Hacked Emails Fuel Climate
Change Controversy. Hackers
obtained and posted a number of files from the UK's University of
East Anglia, including correspondence between prominent climate
researchers. Although some online climate-change skeptics are citing
the emails as a "smoking gun" which they say corrupts climate research
findings, others, including a number of leading
scientists, say the illegally obtained emails have little bearing
on climate science advancements.
University of Nebraska Votes
Against Changing Policies on Stem Cell Research. The University
of Nebraska's Board of Regents voted
against changing its existing policy governing research on
embryonic stem cells, a move that will allow the university to continue
research on stem cell lines in accordance with the new NIH guidelines.
A resolution was proposed that would have restricted the campus policy
to allow only research on the cell lines that were approved under the
2001 policy issued by former President Bush. The eight-member Board
voted 4-4, and since a majority of votes is required to pass a
resolution, the proposed change was defeated. AAAS issued a letter to
the University's President and Board of Regents emphasizing its support
for human embryonic stem cell research conducted with appropriate
ethical guidelines.
New Database Measures Stimulus
Bill Funding for R&D. Last week the Association of American
Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-grant
Universities (APLU), and the Science Coalition launched a new Web site,
ScienceWorksForUS,
to track academic research funded through the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The site will allow the public to search a
database to see which universities have received stimulus funding and
to learn about the research that is being conducted at those campuses.
The White House also continues to track stimulus spending at the Recovery.gov Web
site.
U.S.-China Joint Efforts on
Energy Research. The United States and China announced several joint efforts to foster
collaboration on energy research. The U.S.-China Clean Energy
Research Center, which will receive $150 million over five years, split
evenly by both countries' public and private sectors, will focus at
first on energy-efficient buildings, clean coal, carbon capture and
storage, and clean vehicles. The U.S.-China Energy Cooperation Program,
with over 22 founding member companies, will leverage private resources
to develop clean energy across China. Projects will address renewable
energy, smart grids, clean transportation, green buildings, clean coal,
combined heat and power, and energy efficiency.
Archived issues of AAAS Policy Alert
can be found at http://www.aaas.org/spp/
Publisher:
Alan I. Leshner
Editor: Stephen Nelson
Contributors: Joanne Carney, Patrick Clemins,
Mark Frankel, 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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