|
[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
|