Also in this Issue
Norman Anderson Testifies for APA
Norman Anderson, PhD, APA's Chief Executive Officer, presented spending recommendations to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education on behalf of APA on April 20, 2004. Allowed only five minutes for his statement, Dr. Anderson opted to emphasize recommendations for suicide prevention programs at CDC and SAMHSA, basic behavioral research at NIH, and the Graduate Psychology Education program in the Bureau of Health Professions.
Subcommittee chairman Ralph Regula, (R-OH) questioned Dr. Anderson in depth about suicide prevention programs, asking what a comprehensive suicide prevention program might look like, and what other resources might be needed to reduce the high rate of suicides among the elderly and among minority youth. Afterwards, Dr. Anderson commented, "It was terrific that APA had this opportunity for a conversation with the Subcommittee Chairman about such an important subject."
APA Member Uses Senate Appearance to Advocate for Research
On May 5th, Christopher Sager, PhD, delivered APA's oral testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. Dr. Sager is an APA member and Principal Staff Scientist at the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) in Alexandria, Virginia. In his remarks, he expressed APA's support for psychological research funded by the Department of Defense (DoD), as well as our concern over deep cuts to DoD human-centered research programs proposed in the President's FY05 budget.
Citing DoD's own report to Congress several years ago, which stated that "the requirements for maintaining strong DoD support for behavioral, cognitive and social science research capability are compelling," Sager urged the Senate Committee to (at a minimum) restore funding for this research to the FY04 level. Following Sager's presentation, Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) promised that he and his staff would look into the proposed cuts. Ranking Democrat Daniel Inouye (D-HI) posed a question based on the morning's headlines, asking Sager if more attention to human-centered research within DoD could have prevented the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military personnel. Sager was careful to reply that the issue is complex, but that certainly DoD-sponsored research programs in leadership and personnel selection and training could be important sources of information.
