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 APA Submits Comments on NIMH Draft Strategic Plan
Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee Convenes Open Session
Trucker Fatigue Receives Hearing on Capitol Hill
NICHD Will Change in Name Only
Addressing Research Needs for Teen Dating Violence
Looks like the Grinch Won: Cuts and Compromise on Research Funding
APA Submits Comments on NIMH Draft Strategic Plan
In November, the National Institute of Mental Health completed a draft of a new Strategic Plan that will serve as a guide to the Institute for advancing its priorities over the next 3-5 years. The Plan has four strategic objectives: promote scientific discovery; chart mental health trajectories; develop new and better interventions; and strengthen public health impact. In response to NIMH’s call for input, Science GRO submitted comments on behalf of APA that are an integration of the views of a wide range of individual members and APA governance groups. A common theme that emerged from member comments was the absence of behavioral research among the Plan’s stated objectives. In our review, we urged the Institute not to exclude basic behavioral research, “just as it does not exclude studies of normal brain function that are conducted solely at the neural level.” To read the full text of the comments, click here.
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Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee Convenes Open Session
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee (HSSTAC) met in open session on December 4 for the first time in two years. SPIN readers may recall that there was considerable angst within the scientific community when the HSSTAC charter was allowed to lapse in November 2005 during Dr. Charles McQueary’s administration as Under Secretary for Science and Technology.
Thankfully, buried in the SAFE Port Act of 2006 (HR 4954), the charter was revived and extended through December 31, 2008, but this time narrowly directed at port security issues. Science Government Relations staff coordinated with other scientific and professional associations to urge the new Under Secretary, Admiral Jay Cohen, to reconstitute the HSSTAC in a letter of December 11, 2006. On January 11, 2007 we received a positive response, indicating that Cohen valued the sort of outside expertise HSSTAC could provide and planned on re-convening the Committee again early this year.
Click here to view the entire story.
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Trucker Fatigue Receives Hearing on Capitol Hill
On December 10, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an interim final rule (IFR) on the number of hours truckers are allowed to drive, upholding an 11-hour limit within a 14-hour duty cycle. The ruling was the topic of a December 19 hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Research funding for driver fatigue is part of a broader advocacy agenda Science Government Relations staff are pursuing with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to enhance wellness programs for commercial drivers (see a letter to the OMB). SPIN readers will recall that driver safety was the focus of a recent briefing on Capitol Hill organized by the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and sponsored by APA and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
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NICHD Will Change in Name Only
As the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development prepares to celebrate its 45th anniversary, Congress has chosen to honor one of its original champions by renaming the institute the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Ms. Shriver was instrumental in proposing the original legislation establishing the NICHD, and President John F. Kennedy signed the bill into law in 1962. The bill renaming the institute (S.2484) was co-sponsored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD, and was passed by both the Senate and House in mid-December. The legislation makes no other alterations to the institute’s authorized budget or mission, but is the first to rename any of the institutes after an individual. Speaking on behalf of the bill, Senator Hatch stated, “Our bill honors a truly great American who has played a unique role in advancing children’s health, and particularly in shaping how we treat individuals with intellectual disabilities. Few Americans have ever played such a profound role as Ms. Shriver has played in her life and it is entirely fitting that we rename NICHD on her behalf.”
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Addressing Research Needs for Teen Dating Violence
In December, scientists from the Department of Health and Human Services (NICHD, NIMH, CDC and others) and the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice cosponsored a two-day workshop, “Teen Dating Violence: Developing a Research Agenda to Meet Practice Needs.” Conference organizers are seeking to bridge the gaps between basic and applied social and behavioral scientists and practitioners working with adolescent populations in schools or others affected by intimate partner violence. The diverse group of participants, which included psychologists from across the country and within the federal agencies, worked collaboratively to identify some of the gaps and areas in need of further study. Some of research needs identified by the participants included: additional longitudinal studies using a development approach; examining aggression and bullying in girls; defining and measuring psychological aggression; looking at aggression in the context of the relationship; using additional measures other than self reports of aggression; perception of power in relationships; studies of teen dating violence in the LGBT and other ethnic minority communities; and the impact of sexual coercion and abuse in teen dating relationships.
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Looks like the Grinch Won: Cuts and Compromise on Research Funding
On December 18, 2007, the House and Senate approved and sent to the President a $517 billion catch-all appropriations bill (H.R. 2764), with funding levels much lower than initially passed by the House and Senate. SPIN readers may recall that the original versions of FY 2008 spending legislation were fairly generous to the National Science Foundation (NSF), though somewhat less so to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). However, the White House vetoed the earlier legislation and the House of Representatives fell two votes short of overriding the veto. When the congressional leadership went back to the drawing board to draft legislation that President Bush would support, the spending proposals for research and federal student aid dropped dramatically.
To reach a spending compromise with the White House, the Democratic leadership imposed a 1.7 percent across-the-board rescission on all domestic programs in the previous bills. Despite the cuts to valued programs, the bill preserves thousands of earmarks sought by lawmakers from both parties in an attempt to win lawmakers’ support.
Click here to view the entire story.
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Any questions?
If you have any questions regarding SPIN or specific science policy issues, please feel free to contact any of APA's Science GRO staff.
Geoff Mumford, PhD
Assistant Executive Director for Science Policy
email
Pat Kobor
Senior Science Policy Analyst
email
Heather O'Beirne Kelly, PhD
Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
email
Karen Studwell, JD
Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
email
Elizabeth Hoffman, PhD
Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
email
Anne Bettesworth
Science Policy Associate
email
Kirk Waldroff
Science Website Manager
email
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