AAAS Policy Alert -- January 11, 2012

IN THIS ISSUE

BUDGET NEWS

Administration's New Strategy Plans for a Leaner Defense Budget. Last week the Administration unveiled a new defense strategy that reflects the Administration's continuing commitment to reduced defense budgets - or more accurately, defense budgets that grow at a much slower rate than previously expected. While short on details, the strategy (PDF) calls for "innovative, low-cost, and small-footprint approaches" to national security. It makes only infrequent mention of science and technology, but does state that DOD will remain "prudent" in seeking to maintain "key streams of innovation" - which, as many have argued, have been historically important to the nation's overall economic competitiveness.

Even as the Pentagon prepares for these cuts - which will reach $487 billion over the next decade – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has been vocal in warning about the adverse effects of the looming sequestration, required by the failure of the recent "super committee" to reach agreement on recommendations for reducing the overall federal deficit, and which would require additional cuts of roughly $500 billion in defense spending over the next decade beginning in 2013. It is not yet clear what the sequestration will mean for defense research spending. According to the most recent AAAS analysis, the large cuts to defense technology development and support have accounted for the lion's share of defense R&D reductions agreed upon in the FY 2012 appropriations compromise. It is also worth noting that Congress approved significant boosts to basic and applied defense research even as development funding was reduced – the inverse of what the Administration's original FY 2012 request had sought. Indications are that the Administration has ignored the sequestration requirements during its FY 2013 budget planning.

FY 2012 NIH Budget Caps Salaries for Outside Researchers. As part of the compromise FY 2012 appropriations bill signed into law on December 23, the salary cap for NIH-sponsored researchers has been reduced by $20,000 from FY 2011 levels, to $179,700. The reduction matches that proposed by the Administration, although it does not go as far as a House proposal which would have reduced the cap by $34,400. The reduced cap means that universities will have to cover a larger share of the salary costs for those faculty members pursuing NIH-funded projects – an amount that could reach into the millions for individual universities. The roughly 10% salary cap reduction outpaces the overall reduction in the NIH research budget, which declined by $56 million or one-fifth of a percentage point from FY 2011.

Data and analyses of the final figures for R&D in FY 2012 are available at the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program Website.

OTHER CONGRESSIONAL NEWS

GRANT Act Raises Concerns. Reps. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and David Price (D-NC) have been circulating a Dear Colleague letter among legislators, asking them to oppose the Grant Reform and New Transparency Act of 2011 (the GRANT Act, H.R. 3433, described in the 11/30/11 Policy Alert). The letter expresses concern with the bill's provisions to make grant proposals and information on peer reviewers public. These concerns parallel those expressed by AAAS and other groups such as the Association of American Universities (AAU) (see link to joint letter at AAU website).

Two Ethanol Subsidy Programs Are Allowed to Expire. Two ethanol subsidy programs – which taxed imports, provided tax breaks for U.S. oil companies, and helped promote corn-based ethanol production – were allowed to expire at the end of 2011. However, subsidies still remain for ethanol developed from cellulosic feedstocks, and Department of Energy loan guarantees remain for research and development programs, according to an article in Chemical and Engineering News. The long-term effects of these expired programs are not clear, according to the article, as some believe that ethanol is competitive with gasoline. Also, the Renewable Fuels standard requires that transportation fuels in the U.S. must incorporate an increase of renewable fuels, such as ethanol, from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons annually by 2022.

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

Commerce Department Releases Report on Innovation. On January 6, the Department of Commerce released a report on The Competitiveness and Innovative Capacity of the United States. The report was developed in response to language in the America COMPETES Act that required the Department to conduct a study on the "competitiveness and innovative capacity" of the U.S. and to provide policy recommendations. The final report recommends that the federal government continue to support policies involving three "pillars:" research, education, and infrastructure. Within these three pillars, the report recommends sustained funding for basic research, extending the research and development tax credit for industries, and expanding the "size and quality" of the STEM teacher corps. A DOC press release contains a link to the full report.

NIGMS Reorganizes. NIH has announced that the National Institute for General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) has established two new divisions to support both existing programs and some transferred from National Center for Research Resources (NCRR). The new Division of Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity will be directed by Clifton A. Poodry, and the new Division of Biomedical Technology, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology will be directed by Karin Remington. Each division will continue to manage NIGMS programs along with programs transferred from the former NCRR.

Interior Department Forms Strategic Sciences Group. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced the formation of "a specialized scientific group that will develop future scenarios and provide rapid, interdisciplinary scientific assessments during environmental crises or disasters affecting America's natural resources." The goal is to ensure that preparedness, response and recovery efforts by DOI and its bureaus will be "guided by the best available science and lessons learned from past events." Co-leaders of the new Strategic Sciences Group are Gary Machlis, Science Advisor to the Director of the National Park Service; and David Applegate, Associate Director for Natural Hazards at the U.S. Geological Survey. See DOI press release for more details.

PCORI Seeks Comments on Comparative Effectiveness Research. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), which focuses on comparative effectiveness research (essentially, research that compares the relative effectiveness of different medical interventions), is seeking comments from the scientific community on developing and improving the science and methods of comparative effectiveness research. The deadline is February 17.

CDC Recommends Flu Shots for Prison Inmates. Although people in U.S. jails and prisons are at increased risk for exposure to flu virus, 55% of U.S. jails did not receive any H1N1 vaccines in 2009-2010, according to officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most jail entrants are healthy men, but jail populations can include those in higher-risk categories for influenza, such as pregnant women, according to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Including jail and prison populations in emergency preparedness plans, such as vaccination campaigns, is important for the health of communities overall, according to the report.

ELSEWHERE

State Legislatures Introduce Anti-Evolution Bills Again. As state legislatures reconvene for 2012, anti-evolution bills have started cropping up. One such bill, in Indiana (S.B. 89), says that schools "may require the teaching of various theories concerning the origin of life, including creation science." The sponsor, State Sen. Dennis Kruse, introduced the bill twice before in the House without success; this time, he is chairman of the Senate Education Committee. Two other anti-evolution bills have been pre-filed in New Hampshire. H.B. 1148 would require "evolution to be taught in the public schools of this state as a theory, including the theorists' political and ideological viewpoints and their position on the concept of atheism." H.B. 1457 takes a different tack, requiring "teachers to instruct pupils that proper scientific inquiry results from not committing to any one theory or hypothesis, no matter how firmly it appears to be established."
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NRC Releases Report on U.S. Global Change Research Program's Strategic Plan. The National Research Council (NRC) recently released the results of a study of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's (USGCRP's) draft 10-year Strategic Plan. (NRC press release can be found here, and the full report here). The program, begun over 20 years ago, coordinates the global and climate change research efforts in a range of federal agencies and departments, and proposes to expand its scope to include "climate-related global change." The NRC report finds that this expansion is commendable, but several issues need to be addressed in order to effectively implement this broader vision, including: increasing the capacity of USGCRP and its partners in order to better integrate social and ecological sciences into its current program; and following a clearly defined plan in implementing changes to the program.

In related news, most of the agencies and offices that fund substantial portions of the USGCRP research program made it relatively unscathed through the FY 2012 appropriations process, in spite of a very difficult fiscal environment. For instance, NASA's Science Mission Directorate – the largest single funder of the program by a substantial amount – received an increase of approximately 3% in its FY 2012 budget, even as NASA's funding was cut elsewhere. The National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Basic Energy Sciences program, and NOAA have also received at least modest funding increases.

National Academies Committee to Update Report on "Responsible Science." The National Academies' Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy has appointed an ad hoc committee to revise its 1992 work, Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process. Among the issues to be examined: What are the impacts on integrity of changing trends in the dynamics of the research enterprise, such as globalization, the treatment of intellectual property, handling of materials and specimens, university oversight and institutional review boards (IRBs), and demands of government regulation? Can the research community itself define and strengthen basic standards for scientists and their institutions? What should the definition of research misconduct include? Should it only include the criteria of "falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism," or should it be broadened to include elements of questionable research practices and research impropriety? The report will include findings, recommendations, and perhaps model guidelines for research managers, funders, institutional officers, researchers, and compliance officers. For more information, contact the Committee at cosepup@nas.edu.

Archived issues of AAAS Policy Alert can be found at http://www.aaas.org/spp/policyalert.

Publisher: Alan I. Leshner
Editor: Steve Nelson
Contributors: Ed Derrick, Mark Frankel, Erin Heath, Emily Lamb, Earl Lane, Gretchen Seiler, Al Teich, Ric Weibl

NOTE: The AAAS Policy Alert is a newsletter provided to AAAS Members to inform them of developments in science and technology policy that may be of interest. Information in the Policy Alert is gathered from published news reports, unpublished documents, and personal communications. Although the information contained in this newsletter is regarded as reliable, it is provided only for the convenience and private use of our members. Comments and suggestions regarding the Policy Alert are welcome. Please write to alert@aaas.org.


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