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OSTP AD Briefs National Research Council Human Factors Committee
When the Human Factors Committee of the National Research Council decided
to re-examine homeland security issues at the their August meeting, the
Chair wanted to get an update on federal government activities with an eye
to what was underway in the social and behavioral sciences. Science Policy
staff suggested that Dr. Susan Brandon, OSTP's Assistant Director for
Social, Behavioral and Educational sciences would fit that role nicely.
Susan wears several hats as the OSTP liaison to the National Science and
Technology Council Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences Subcommittee
that reports to the Committee on Science and the Committee on Homeland and
National Security (the latter being most relevant to the role of these
sciences to homeland security); the NSTC Education and Workforce
Subcommittee that reports to the Committee on Science (concerned mostly
with Federal workforce needs and training); and the Interagency Working
Group on Critical Workforce Needs, part of the Subcommittee on National
Security Research and Development (that seeks to "identify critical
workforce issues impacting the availability of technical staff required to
meet the needs of national security programs"). Susan provided an
overview of some of the inventory work she has being doing on behalf of
these various groups in her powerpoint
presentation to the Committee on August 30th.
 View
Dr. Brandon's presentation [PPT 3MB]
House and Senate Make Progress on NIH Appropriations
On September 9th, the House of Representatives passed its
version of the Fiscal Year 2005 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education
Appropriations bill (HR 5006). The legislation provides a 2.6% increase
for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), raising its budget to $28.5
billion. The following week, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved
its version of the Labor-HHS bill (S2810), but it is unlikely to reach the
Senate floor before the November elections.
The Senate and House versions differ on a number of levels; significantly,
the NIH would receive $380 million more under the Senate bill than the
President's budget request and
the House bill, for a total FY05 budget of $28.9 billion.
Fiscal Year 2005 begins on October 1, so Congress is expected to pass a
continuing resolution in the next few weeks to fund the government until
the FY05 appropriations process is finished.
Congress Acts to Restrict NIMH Research grants
Last year, the House of Representatives nearly passed an
amendment that would have defunded five specific grants funded by NIH that
focused on sexual development and behaviors. On September 9th, Rep. Robert
"Randy" Neugebauer (R-TX) offered a similar, though mostly
symbolic, amendment targeting two grants funded by the National Institute
of Mental Health (NIMH). APA staff sent alerts to congressional offices as
well as action alerts to APA members urging them to contact their members
of Congress to oppose this amendment. The amendment passed on a voice
vote, which means no recorded votes were taken, and only those few members
on the floor were voting on the amendment. While the amendment passed, it
is unlikely to remain in the final FY 05 LHHS appropriations bill once it
has been reconciled with the Senate version in conference.
Read
the alert sent to congressional offices on possible Neugebauer amendments
Read
the action alert on the Neugebauer amendment
Read
more about the amendment's passage
Read
the House floor debate on the amendment
[back to top]
Senate Appropriations Committee Acts on Labor-HHS
Funding Bill and Includes APA-inspired Language
The Senate Appropriations Committee this week reported its
version of the Fiscal Year 2005 legislation that will fund the Departments
of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. The House version of
the bill passed on September 9th. The Senate Committee version will likely
not be brought to a vote independently (but as a part of a larger spending
package -see related
story). The report accompanying the Senate bill is
always closely scrutinized by federal agencies and policymakers, because
while its language is not binding in a strict legal sense, it includes
suggestions and veiled directions from Congress. Each year APA drafts
language that would be helpful in promoting and expanding behavioral
research, and encourages Senators to include the suggestions in the Senate
Appropriations report. Below are some examples of report language added by
Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI).
Read
the full article
Read
additional APA report language [PDF 40K]
Psychologists Faring Well Under NIAAA Loan Repayment
Program
On September 9th, during the NIAAA Advisory Council meeting,
Ken Warren provided a status report on NIAAA's participation in the NIH Loan
Repayment Program, which is designed to encourage individuals to pursue
careers in five selected areas of research. NIAAA participates in two of the
five programs (Clinical and Pediatric), and when Science Policy staff
requested follow-up data to assess the disciplinary training of the successful
applicants, we found that psychologists are faring extremely well. Of the 18
awards administered in 2002, 14 were awarded to psychologists; of 42 awards
administered in 2003, 29 were awarded to psychologists; and of the 39
administered in 2004, 25 were awarded to psychologists. Because NIAAA's
research portfolios focus in large part on both prevention and treatment, it's
likely that psychologists will continue to find active support in pursuing
this niche of substance abuse research.
View
Dr. Warren's presentation [PPT 600K]
More
information on NIH Loan Repayment Programs
President Nominates Arden Bement to be Director of NSF
On September 15th, President Bush nominated the current
Acting Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), Arden L. Bement,
Jr., PhD as his choice for the full time job. Pending congressional
approval, Dr. Bement will remain Acting Director at NSF and will pursue
"research and education at the frontiers of science and engineering,
…broadening participation both within and without the Foundation, and
…resources to carry out this vision" as top priorities. Bement
trained as a metallurgical engineer and has had a long career in industry,
government and academia, and came to NSF in an acting capacity while still
Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Chairman of the House
Science Committee (which has oversight responsibility for NSF) said this
in a press statement the same day: "Arden knows the agency well and
brings a wealth of experience in industry, government and academia to the
job. His calm, soft-spoken, steady, open-minded and firm leadership has
already left its mark on NSF. With a permanent appointment, he will be
able to be an even more forceful, effective and inventive director. It
would be hard to think of a better person for the job." Rep. Bart
Gordon (D-TN), Democratic Ranking Member on the House Science Committee,
seconded this confidence in Dr. Bement but expressed disappointment that
President Bush had not named a new Director at NIST, which faces severe
budgetary crises.
Read
Dr. Bement's full biography
[back to top]
Setting a Research Agenda on
Electronic Voting Technology
On September 17-18, Science Policy Director Geoff Mumford
attended an invitation-only workshop on Electronic Voting Technology
hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
The workshop drew together a range of expertise across psychology,
political science, election administration, computer science, and public
policy to take a holistic view of the election process and help propose a
research agenda that would inform issues around electronic voting.
Background and summary materials are available on the AAAS
website.
Much of the momentum around election reform appeared to
stall after 9/11, and mulling over the issues raised during the workshop,
it was hard to believe it had been more than three years since APA, the
Consortium of Social Science Associations, and the American Political
Science Association collaborated to bring the existing research to the
attention of policy makers on the Hill in an event to support the Decade
of Behavior "democracy" theme, a congressional briefing entitled
"The
Mechanics of Election Reform: From Registration to Results". Soon
thereafter, Dr. David Woods was selected to testify
before the House Committee on Administration.
Although we are all hopeful that the 2004 election will
proceed smoothly, it is likely there will be hiccups along the way. While
precious little funding has been dedicated to research on election reforms
thus far, perhaps this AAAS effort will serve to stimulate some renewed
interest in taking a scientific approach to improving elections the next
time around.
AAAS
background and summary materials
More
information about the congressional briefing
Read
Dr. David Woods' testimony
Read
the Science magazine editorial on "Election Science"
[PDF 50K]
Read
about the National Research Council's Project on Electronic Voting Senate Appropriations
Committee Proposes FY05 Research Numbers for NSF and VA On
September 21st, the Senate Appropriations Committee "marked up"
its bill funding the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA), and a number of other federal agencies for Fiscal
Year 2005. The Senate proposed $5.74 billion for NSF overall, matching the
President's budget request. This represents only a 3% increase over
current funding, but compares well with the 2% cut to NSF proposed by the
House. The Department of Veterans Affairs' research budget, which has seen
almost no growth over the past few years, would get a total of $405.6
million from the Senate in Fiscal Year 2005 - dead even with current
funding. Both the President and the House have proposed a $20 million cut
to the VA research program in 2005. APA and the rest of the science
advocacy community will urge Congress to invest well in research at these
agencies as the Senate and House work out their differences. It is
unlikely that agreement on and final passage of the bill will occur prior
to the November election. More probable is that either all of the
remaining appropriations bills would be rolled into one large omnibus
funding bill for consideration during a lame duck session, or that a
continuing resolution bill would be passed - essentially keeping the
government running at current levels into early next year. Institute of Education Sciences Funding
While the budget increases for NIH may seem disappointing,
there is more disappointing new for other science and health programs.
Under both the House and Senate bills, the Institute of Education Sciences
(IES) would receive $165.5 million for education research, development and
dissemination, providing no increase over FY04 levels. APA has worked with
other scientific organizations to support a $20 million increase for IES
research to $185 million, as well as advocating for sufficient support for
the national education research centers. In September, APA joined with
other organizations to send a letter to the Senate on behalf of education
research.
Read
the letter to the Senate in support of IES
[back to top]
APA to Cosponsor DHS Strategic Studies Conference
Concerned that entrepreneurs without appropriate training
are starting to offer a range of Homeland Security certification courses (googling
"homeland security certification" currently yields 243,000 hits),
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decided to get in front of that
wave to develop some educational standards of its own. Hearing of this
nascent effort at the Homeland Security Advisory Council meeting in April,
Science Policy staff asked to be involved in planning the conference to
ensure that psychological science content was appropriately represented.
The conference, "Charting a Course for Homeland Security Strategic
Studies", will be held November 16-18 at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy
Headquarters in New London, CT. Perhaps as a nod to the increasing emphases
DHS is placing on behavioral and social sciences, APA is the only
professional scientific organization cosponsoring the conference. Several
APA members are helping to plan the conference, including Dr. Susan
Brandon, OSTP Assistant Director for Social, Behavioral and Educational
Sciences, Dr. Roxane Cohen Silver, who serves on the Academe and Policy
Research Senior Advisory Committee for DHS, and Dr. Janice Laurence, former
President of Division 19 - Military Psychology.
More
information about the conference [PDF 50K]
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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