APA's Science Policy Insider News June 2004

[Subscribe to SPIN]  Psychologists Defend Sexual Behavior Research on Capitol Hill On May 15-17, nine psychologists who conduct research on issues related to sexuality and sexual behavior attended the 12th Annual Science Advocacy Training Workshop sponsored by the Science Policy Office. Participants went through advocacy boot camp training where they learned about the overall legislative process and about specific issues related to congressional interference with peer-reviewed research. The following day, they met with more than thirty congressional offices to urge their Representatives and Senators to oppose legislative amendments or language that seek to restrict funding for peer-reviewed research. Read the full article More information about this issue Rockefeller Introduces Bill to Enhance Support of Behavioral Research at DHS Science Policy staff have been working for several months with Senator Rockefeller's office to help inform behavioral science issues relevant to the reauthorization of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including coordinating meetings with relevant DHS program staff. The effort paid off last month when Sen. Rockefeller introduced the "Community Security Act of 2004" (S.2459) on May 20, and the bill has now been referred to the Committee on Finance for further consideration. The bill contains a section on research expansion grants stating that "the Department of Homeland Security should fund innovative research, which explores the human dimensions of homeland security". Much of the text of the bill was derived from report language APA submitted to the Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee and later shared with Senator Rockefeller's staff. The final text of the bill reflects invited edits from a range of Science Directorate staff as well as a small circle of outside APA advisors. We are very grateful to Senator Rockefeller and his staff for their support of behavioral research at DHS. Read the APA proposed report language Read Senator Rockefeller's remarks and the bill text from the Congressional Record [PDF 60K] Congress Holds Hearing on NIH Priority Setting On June 2, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held is fifth hearing addressing NIH reauthorization. Panelists included NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, MD, National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora Volkow, MD, National Cancer Institute Director Andrew von Eschenbach, MD, and National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, MD. Subcommittee Chairman Michael Bilirakis (R-FL) indicated that criticism of NIH had arisen because the priority setting process is complicated and lacks transparency, particularly when it comes to the approval of individual grants. Read the full article June 10th Congressional Briefing on Abu Ghraib One of PPO's goals is to bring relevant psychological science to bear on issues of national concern. On Thursday, June 10th, APA sponsored a Congressional Briefing on Capitol Hill to educate a target audience of congressional staff and federal agency personnel on psychological research related to the recent incidents in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Two distinguished psychological scientists spoke at the briefing: social psychologist Steve Breckler, Ph.D. (APA's Executive Director for Science) and I/O psychologist Kevin Murphy, Ph.D. (Head of the Department of Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University). Dr. Breckler gave an overview of the social psychological principles relevant to the prisoner abuse situation, and Dr. Murphy presented findings from research on organizations, and the military in particular, that suggest ways to prevent further abuse. Read the full article APA Fellows Testify at Senate Hearing on Adolescent Substance Abuse On June 15, two APA Fellows, Sandra A. Brown and Roger P. Weissberg, testified before the Subcommittee on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee at a hearing entitled "Providing Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Services to Adolescents". Science and Public Interest Policy staff worked with both the majority and minority subcommittee staff to secure these testimony slots for a planned May 18th hearing only to have the hearing postponed at the last minute. With a very tight legislative calendar this summer, we were pessimistic that the hearing would be rescheduled. But thankfully, both Senators DeWine and Kennedy recognized the importance of this issue and made room for it in the halls of the Senate. Read the full article Data Mining at the White House - Richard Shiffrin Strikes Gold On June 17, Science Policy Staff attended a briefing at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to hear about methods that might be used to map science with computational text mining algorithms. The private briefing arranged for White House Science Advisor, John Marburger was one of several Susan Brandon, Assistant Director for Social, Behavioral, and Educational Sciences has arranged to help demonstrate the relevance of social science research to current science and technology issues of topical and enduring importance to the nation. The briefing was led by APA member Dr. Richard Shiffrin, Luther Dana Waterman Professor of Psychology, and Director, Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University. He along with his colleagues, Katy Börner, Assistant Professor of Information Sciences, Indiana University and Mark Steyvers, Assistant Professor, Cognitive Sciences, UC Irvine provided an overview of the evolution of text mining as well as a number of methodological demonstrations. The briefing brought together representatives from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy in an effort to inform efforts underway by those agencies to inventory trends in scientific inquiry, discovery and funding. The techniques that Dr. Shiffrin and colleagues have developed should be immediately applicable to similar inventory efforts underway by the National Science and Technology Council Subcommitee for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences. Dr. Shiffrin offered the following summary to provide some context in advance of the meeting. Dr. Marburger was clearly engaged as the one hour briefing actually lasted a full two hours with active Q&A throughout. We are grateful to Dr. Shiffrin and his colleagues for coming to DC to make the presentations and to Dr. Brandon for her continuing efforts to help raise the profile of psychological and other social sciences within the administration. Dr. Shiffrin’s presentation summarized many of the issues he describes in greater detail in a Supplement to the April 6, 2004 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read the meeting context provided by Dr. Shiffrin Read the NAS issue supplement View Dr. Shiffrin’s presentation [PPT 60K] [back to top] HeLP (Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention) America Act To Be Introduced Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) is expected to introduce legislation today (June 21) that would enhance research and programs on health promotion. Specifically, the bill would establish a health promotion trust fund, fueled by penalty fees levied on tobacco companies and the removal of tobacco companies' tax deduction on advertising. The approximately $5 billion in revenue would be used to reimburse costs of smoking cessation treatment for federal employees and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, establish additional school mental health programs, encourage exercise-friendly environments, and fund additional research on health promotion and disease prevention. In producing the bill, Sen. Harkin and his staff reached out to numerous scientists including psychologists, health professionals, and professional associations such as APA. Several of the bill's provisions on research, coverage of smoking cessation treatment costs, advertising and marketing to children, mental health surveillance and health promotion in aging populations reflect collaborative input from psychologists and APA staff. While it is unlikely the bill will be enacted before Congress adjourns for the year, Sen. Harkin will reintroduce the bill in early 2005 and pledges to work hard for its passage. Because the bill includes provisions on revenue and authorization of new programs, it will be considered in multiple congressional committees. Please watch SPIN for opportunities to advocate in support of this bill and news about its progress. Read a summary of the HeLP Act More information about the HeLP Act Read the bill text  [PDF 500K] A Place at the Table for Psychology One of the most important ways APA advocates for the science of psychology is nominating expert psychologists to serve on federal advisory committees. Membership on these influential committees is one way to ensure that psychology can inform policy, and the expertise of psychological science can influence decisions that will influence all of science. APA is currently nominating expert psychologists to serve on seven NIH advisory committees including the National Eye Institute and National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, neither of which has a psychologist member. Public Policy Office staff are soliciting names from leadership of relevant divisions and the Board of Scientific Affairs, among other governance groups. Nominees from divisions should be senior investigators with grants and/or study section experience at NIH. If you would like additional information, please contact Pat Kobor. What's Happening With Science Funding? You haven't heard much lately about the Fiscal Year 2005 research budget because Congress hasn't enacted one yet. There are several hurdles, but the primary ones seem to be tax cuts and spending cuts. There is a budget resolution in play, but the final step-a conference report being passed by both houses of Congress-has not been completed. The House of Representatives and the Senate have passed separate resolutions, and a conference committee has produced a conference report to iron out the differences. The House has approved the Budget conference report. But a group of moderate Republican Senators is preventing the conference report from being considered on the Senate floor. These Senators want to enact rules to make it more difficult for new and continuing tax cuts to add to the federal deficit. The annual Congressional budget resolution does not directly impact federal government spending; it sets spending priorities for Congress and provides congressional committees with "reconciliation" instructions on funding levels for various programs. The latter process is directly relevant to spending because each of the 13 appropriations (spending) subcommittees is given an amount to divide among the programs in its portfolio. The allocation for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, which funds the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Department of Education, is $142.3 billion. This is an increase of $3.3 billion over the Fiscal Year 2004 level. Because the Labor-HHS appropriations bill for FY 2005 has not been drafted, specific funding proposals cannot be inferred from the allocation increase. 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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