DC Digest - July 20, 2010
In Today's Issue:
- House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee Markup
- House Appropriations Labor, Health, and Education Subcommittee Markup
- Senate Commerce Committee Approves NASA Bill
- Department of Defense Awards Basic Research Funds to Duke
- Schanzer Offers Expertise on Domestic Terrorism
- Senate Introduces COMPETES Reauthorization Bill
- OMB Approves Sanctions Transfer Amendment to Draft NIH Conflict of Interest Rules
- Duke Signs On to Support Patent Reform
- Department of Education Funding Available to Develop Veterans Centers
- Governors Join Push on College Completion
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT SUBCOMMITTEE MARKUP
On Thursday, the House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its FY 2011 bill. While specific details of the bill have not yet been released, the DOE Office of Science is funded at $4.9 billion, a $4 million decrease from the FY2010 appropriations funding level and $221 million below the presidential budget request. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) is funded at $220 million, $80 million below the budget request. Overall, DOE funding is approximately $1 billion over its FY2010 funding level, but $1.5 billion below the budget request. The greatest reductions from the budget request come in loan guarantees ($660 million below the request), Defense Environmental Management ($463 million below request), and the Office of Science ($221 million below the request). –from the Association of American Universities
Read More:
Summary of Appropriations (U.S. House of Representatives)
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS LABOR, HEALTH, AND EDUCATION SUBCOMMITTEE MARKUP
The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee approved a 2011 spending bill Thursday that would increase funds for the National Institutes of Health by $1 billion and provide $5.7 billion to keep the maximum Pell Grant at its current level, closing an existing shortfall. For student aid, funding would be $23.2 billion, an increase of $5.7 billion above the FY10 funding level and the same as the President’s FY11 request. The $24.9 billion included for the Pell Grant program would cover the current funding shortfall. Student Aid Administration would receive $961 million, which is $91 million below FY10 and $209 million below the Administration’s request. Higher Education would be funded at $2.2 billion, which is $14 million below FY10 and an increase of $147 million above the FY11 request. It appears that the only program eliminated is the Leveraging Education Assistance Partnership program. –from Inside Higher Ed and the Association of American Universities
Read More:
Summary of Appropriations (U.S. House of Representatives)
SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE APPROVES NASA BILL
According to Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, the bipartisan legislation reauthorizes America’s space programs, and provides a roadmap for keeping NASA’s mission and goals wed to national priorities in a smart, fiscally responsible way. The bill was largely in-line with the President’s fiscal year 2011 budget request to Congress; the bill would authorize fiscal year 2011 to fiscal year 2013 appropriations for NASA.
Read More:
Commerce Committee Approves NASA Bill (U.S. Senate)
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AWARDS BASIC RESEARCH FUNDS TO DUKE
The Department of Defense (DoD) announced plans to make 32 awards to academic institutions to perform multidisciplinary basic research. The funding is to be awarded under the DoD Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program. The MURI program supports research by teams of investigators that intersect more than one traditional science and engineering discipline in order to accelerate both research progress and transition of research results to application. Duke will be working with the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University on the project, Neuronal Behavior in Primary Blast.
Read More:
DoD Press Release (Department of Defense)
List of Funded Projects (Department of Defense)
SCHANZER OFFERS EXPERTISE ON DOMESTIC TERRORISM
David Schanzer, a professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy, discusses the role of Muslim communities in combating terrorism during a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., on July 14, 2010. The event, “Strengthening America’s Security: Identifying, Preventing and Responding to Domestic Terrorism,” was cosponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the National Security Network.
Read More:
Schanzer Offers Expertise on Domestic Terrorism (Sanford School of Public Policy)
Strengthening America’s Security (Center for American Progress Action Fund)
SENATE INTRODUCES COMPETES REAUTHORIZATION BILL
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) on July 15 introduced legislation to reauthorize the America COMPETES Act (S. 3605). The text of the bill is not yet available on-line, but it is expected to focus on sustaining existing, funded programs at NSF, the DOE Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, rather than on authorizing new ones. The Senate bill also includes a section (Sec. 104) creating an Interagency Public Access Committee similar to that established in the House bill (Sec. 123). –from the Association of American Universities
OMB APPROVES SANCTIONS TRANSFER AMENDMENT TO DRAFT NIH CONFLICT OF INTEREST RULES
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on June 14 approved an amendment to the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) draft conflict of interest rules on the issue of transferring institutional sanctions when a sanctioned researcher moves to another institution. Reportedly, the amendment will extend the July 20 deadline for public comments on the proposed new rules until August 19. The proposed rules generally are intended to modify existing regulations to expand and add transparency to investigators’ disclosures of significant financial interests; improve regulatory compliance, institutional oversight, and management of investigators’ financial conflicts of interests; and improve NIH’s compliance oversight. –from the Association of American Universities
DUKE SIGNS ON TO SUPPORT PATENT REFORM
Duke University was one of several North Carolina organizations that signed on to support the new bipartisan compromise managers’ amendment to Senate Bill 515, the Patent Reform Act of 2009. Letters of support were sent to members of North Carolina’s Congressional Delegation and were signed by Duke, university associations, and many technology and research firms operating in the state.
Read More:
Letter to Senator Kay Hagan
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FUNDING AVAILABLE TO DEVELOP VETERANS CENTERS
The Department of Education has released application materials for a grant competition for institutions of higher education to create Centers of Excellence for Veteran Student Services. Nineteen awards of $250,000 to $400,000 are available, and the application deadline is July 30, 2010.
Read More:
Centers of Excellence for Veteran Student Success (Department of Education)
GOVERNORS JOIN PUSH ON COLLEGE COMPLETION
Gov. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia announced that he would make higher education productivity the focus of his yearlong term as chair of the National Governors Association. (The governors' group lets its incoming chair choose an initiative on which to focus.) In a presentation at the association's annual meeting and a news conference with reporters, Manchin outlined the steps the governors' group will take to encourage its members, and the states they oversee, to try to increase the number of college- and career-ready residents despite what is virtually certain to be a time of continued fiscal austerity.
Read More:
Governors Push College Completion (Inside Higher Ed)