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SPIN - Science Policy Insider NewsAPA's Science Policy Insider News
February 2005

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APA Science Presents Advocacy Training Workshop at SPSP Conference

On January 22, Steve Breckler, APA's Executive Director for Science, joined Science Policy staff Karen Studwell and Heather Kelly in New Orleans to offer Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP - Division 8) conferees training in federal advocacy. The two-hour workshop was sponsored by SPSP's Training Committee and focused on effective strategies for communicating with legislators and agency staff about the importance of social psychological research. Participants received a crash course in the legislative and appropriations process, including how to establish relationships with Members of Congress.

IES Board Holds Inaugural Meeting

The National Board for Education Sciences, the new advisory board for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), convened its first meeting on February 2. While the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 called for a fifteen-member board, only fourteen slots have been filled so far. Barbara Foorman, a psychologist and member of the previous advisory board for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), has also joined IES as the first Commissioner of the Center for Education Research. President Bush has proposed $479 million in Fiscal Year 2006 (FY06) for IES, including $164 million in funding for research, development, and dissemination, which is equal to what it allocated for those same activities last year. While the budget once again calls for the elimination of funding for the regional labs, Congress will likely restore the $66 million in funding, which would increase IES's budget to more than $500 million.

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NIMH Advisory Council Meeting

On February 4, the National Mental Advisory Health Council met at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIMH Director Tom Insel, MD, discussed several NIH-wide issues, including the new conflict of interest provisions that may impact staff recruitment and retention. Council members also discussed the need to improve minority recruitment in research training as well as clinical trials. Of central concern for the research community is the low increase proposed by the President for FY06 NIH funding. While the Administration has called for an increase of less than one percent for the entire NIH, this works out to a $6 million increase proposed for NIMH to bring its FY06 funding to $1.418 billion. Coupled with an increase in grant applications, the decreasing increases for NIMH have led to a decline in the award payline, smaller budgets provided for investigators and changes in NIMH referral guidelines to emphasize relevance to mental illness. Investigators are encouraged to read NIMH's new organizational structure and to discuss their proposals with program staff before submitting new grant applications. 

More information about structural changes at NIMH and staff contact information
View the NIMH Council roster [PDF 130K]

Bush Budget? Bummer!

Of course it could have been worse, but we can't find much to sing about. The Administration's FY06 budget was released last week, and except for a couple of bright spots, the news for psychological research, services and education is bleak. Where there are increases, most are too small to clear the bar for inflation (3 - 3.5 percent last year). If this budget were enacted, spending for non-defense science and technology would decline in for the first time in decades, according to long-time observers. Basic and applied R&D spending would decline by 1%, or $870 million, for the year that begins October 1, 2005. This would result in an overall science and technology budget of $61 billion.

Read the full article

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Task Force to Examine Ethics and National Security

Shortly after organizing a Capitol Hill briefing "How Can the Science of Human Behavior Help Us Understand Abu Ghraib?" in June of 2004, Science Policy staff worked with APA's Director of Ethics to convene an "Ethics and National Security Forum". The meeting, held July 20 at APA headquarters, brought together psychologists and psychiatrists working in various parts of the intelligence community to discuss a range of issues relevant to the conduct of national security investigations.

As an outgrowth of those discussions and increasing media attention on interrogation practices at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and elsewhere, APA President Ron Levant called for the establishment of a "Task Force to Explore the Ethical Aspects of Psychologists' Involvement and the Use of Psychology in National Security-Related Investigations" [PDF 25K]. The APA Board of Directors approved the Task Force at its February 16-17 meeting, and Dr. Levant is now seeking nominations for individuals with appropriate expertise to serve on the Task Force. Names of nominees should be forwarded to Stephen Behnke, director of APA's Ethics Office, along with a brief statement no longer than 200 words (please do not send CVs) concerning the individual's qualifications for the Task Force. Nominations are due March 1.

In anticipation of the announcement of the new Task Force, Science Policy staffer Heather Kelly and the Director of APA's Ethics Office, Stephen Behnke, briefed senior staffers from the Senate Armed Services Committee on the proposed Task Force on February 9. Staff were very interested in following the progress of the new Task Force. APA has been engaged in other parallel activities by offering to serve as a resource to the Office of the General Counsel within the Department of Defense, which is also reviewing policies that may pertain to the role of mental health professionals in interrogation settings. Further, Science Policy staff have contacted both the Institute of Medicine and senior psychologists in the Army Surgeon Generals Office to offer APA as a resource should the Army or Congress decide to commission further study of the subject via an independent scientific advisory group.

Read the APA Board of Directors agenda item establishing the Task Force [PDF 25K]

If You Build It, Will They Fund?

As detailed in the last edition of SPIN, a report constructed by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) entitled "Combating Terrorism: Research Priorities in the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences" [PDF 8MB] was recently released by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Although slightly delayed, the release of the report was in fact very timely as the 109th Congress is just settling in to begin deliberations over the FY06 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget. Seizing an opportunity to highlight the importance of psychological science to the homeland security research agenda, APA CEO Norman Anderson sent a letter [PDF 50K] to the Members of all congressional committees and subcommittees with funding authority or programmatic oversight of DHS on February 10, the day the report was released. Thus, 187 members  received notification of the report, and Science Policy staff will be coordinating with OSTP to ensure that each member receives a hardcopy of this critical document. Whether or not the report will influence congressionally directed research priorities remains to be seen, but naturally APA is delighted to see such a report emerge with the White House stamp of approval.

Read the NSTC report [PDF 8MB]
Read Dr. Anderson's letter to committee members [PDF 50K]  

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House Science Committee Reacts to FY06 Budget Request for NSF

Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI), a physicist and member of the House Science Committee, gave an impassioned presentation on effective science advocacy to association and university members of the Coalition for National Science Funding on February 15. Ehlers has been a long-time champion of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The following day, he reiterated his concerns about the lack of sufficient support for NSF during a Science Committee hearing on the FY06 budget. Ehlers and fellow committee colleagues - both Republican and Democrat - told a panel which included John Marburger, the President's science advisor, and Arden Bement, the new Director of NSF, that Congress would work hard to correct for an insufficient investment in science in the President's budget proposal.

Making a Name for NIDA on Capitol Hill

The Friends of NIDA coalition continues to gain momentum with monthly meetings hosted at APA headquarters just off Capitol Hill. Providing name recognition for the group and augmenting the activities of several relevant congressional caucuses, Science Policy staff continue to draft letters in support of groups interested in furthering NIDA's mission. The most recent letter [PDF 25K], endorsed by 23 organizations, urged members of congress to join the Congressional Caucus to Fight and Control Methamphetamine. Science Policy staff will be meeting with staff of the Caucus at the beginning of March to talk about areas of mutual interest as the Friends and the Caucus move forward. One goal for the Friends will be to help policy-makers move toward a better balance of supply and demand side reduction strategies. And, as at least a small step toward that goal, an updated Caucus website will, for the first time, be linked to NIDA's methamphetamine website.

Read the letter to Congress [PDF 25K]
View the Caucus website

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Scoring a Touchdown for NIDA's Criminal Justice Portfolio

The Friends of NIDA are grateful to Congressman Robert Portman (R-OH), Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, for providing a venue for the second in our Capitol Hill briefing series to be held March 15. The briefing, "Effectively Breaking the Cycle of Drugs and Crime: Research and Treatment Provide the Answers", will serve to raise awareness of NIDA's Criminal Justice Addiction Treatment Services (CJDATS) research portfolio.

The speakers will include Nora Volkow, MD, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, who will provide an overview of the NIDA criminal justice treatment research portfolio. Dexter Manley, Director of Community Outreach, Second Genesis, Inc. and a former NFL football player, will share his journey through addiction, prison, treatment, and recovery. Dwayne Simpson, PhD, Director of the Institute of Behavioral Research, Texas Christian University, will detail treatment research results involving partnerships between scientists, offenders and the criminal justice system. Early RSVP's suggest this will be a very popular event!

View the briefing invitation [PDF 16K]

Any questions?

If you have any questions regarding SPIN or specific science policy issues, please feel free to contact any of APA’s Science PPO staff.

Geoff Mumford, Ph.D., Director of Science Policy

Pat Kobor, Senior Science Policy Analyst

Heather O'Beirne Kelly, Ph.D., Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer

Karen Studwell, J.D., Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer

Sara Robinson, Legislative Assistant

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