The nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) advanced out of the Senate Finance Committee yesterday, leaving only a vote of the full Senate. What was once expected to be a rather comfortable confirmation has evolved into a rather partisan debate over President Obama’s intentions in reforming the U.S. health insurance system. Conservatives on the panel sought assurances — which they did not receive — from Governor Sebelius that HHS would not seek a plan that limited consumer choice of doctor, hospital, or coverage options. Despite the reservations expressed by some members, the Senate Finance Committee approved the nomination on a largely party line 15-8 vote. Consideration of the nomination by the full Senate could take place later this week.
Category: Federal Agency Developments
AAU and the Department of Energy Seek ARPA-E Nominations
The Association of American Universities (AAU) is asking its member campuses to recommend individuals to serve as temporary personnel to help organize the new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The Department of Energy (DoE) is looking for individuals with the knowledge and expertise to help it organize the new agency. These individuals would serve as temporary program managers and provide additional program support (for both 6-to-12-month and three-year terms of service). AAU has already collected and forwarded to DoE several resumes from its member campuses, but would appreciate receiving additional nominations.
Resumes and questions can be sent to Jonathan Nurse, UW Assistant Director of Federal Relations, who will forward UW recommendations to AAU as a set.
To establish ARPA-E, Congress provided DoE with $400 million in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and $15 million in the FY09 omnibus appropriations bill. ARPA-E was originally authorized in the America COMPETES Act (P.L. 110-69) in 2007, but it received no funding in FY07 or FY08.
The Department of Energy hopes to staff the agency quickly with highly qualified faculty members and others who can help the agency become established and begin to fund research proposals. Recovery Act funds must be obligated within the next two years.
President Obama Nominates Director of DoE Office of Science
President Obama has nominated Princeton University physicist William F. Brinkman to head the $5 billion Department of Energy Office of Science.
William F. Brinkman is currently a Senior Research Physicist in the Physics Department at Princeton University. Prior to working for Princeton, he was Vice President (now retired) of Research from Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, New Jersey, where he was responsibile for the direction of all research to enable the advancement of the technology underlying Lucent Technologies’ products. Previous to this position he was Physical Sciences Research Vice President and Vice President of Research at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. William received his BS and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Missouri in 1960 and 1965, respectively. He joined Bell Laboratories in 1966 after spending one year as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Oxford University. In 1972, he became Head of the Infrared Physics and Electronics Research Department, and in 1974 became the Director of the Chemical Physics Research Laboratory. He held the position of Director of the Physical Research Laboratory from 1981 until moving to Sandia in 1984. He returned to Bell Laboratories in 1987 to become Executive Director of the Physics Research Division. In 1993, he became Physical Sciences Research Vice President, and in January 2000 became Vice President, Research. William is a member of the American Philosophical Society, National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has served on a number of national committees, including chairmanship of the National Academy of Sciences Physics Survey and their Solid-State Sciences Committee.
OMB Requests Public Comment on Proposed ARRA Reporting Requirements
On April 1st, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a notice in the Federal Register (74FR14824) requesting comments on the standard data elements that it proposes to require for reporting under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for grants, cooperative agreements, and loans. The deadline for comments is May 1, 2009.
As previously mentioned on this site, recipients of funding provided by federal agencies through ARRA will be required to report back to their respective agencies every three months about their project or activity, particularly how many jobs it has created or sustained.
Hold Placed on Sebelius Nomination to HHS
Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) appeared before the Senate Finance Committee for her confirmation hearing to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday April 2nd. Gov. Sebelius’ confirmation hearing centered around the impending push to overhaul of the nation’s health care system. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and other legislators are already drafting legislation. Ideological differences emerged during the hearing when the idea surfaced of creating a government-run health insurance plan that would operate alongside private plan options. Republican members of the panel expressed deep reservations about a government health care program.
Governor Sebelius’ nomination to head HHS has drawn bipartisan support and is expected to pass after the two-week Congressional recess that starts today. Senator Baucus sought to finalize her nomination before the recess, but the attempt at an expedited unanimous consent vote was blocked by an unnamed senator for an undisclosed reason.