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News and updates

News and updates

This Week on Capitol Hill, September 8-11

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The House and Senate reconvened yesterday, September 8th, after the August District Work Period.   First up on the Senate agenda was S 1023, the Travel Promotion Act of 2009.  The House took up several measures under suspension of the rules.  Both the House and Senate will be in session today and Thursday.

This evening, Wednesday, 9/10, President Obama addresses a joint session of Congress at 8:00pm to discuss health care.

FLOOR ACTION

Wednesday, 9/9

  • Senate is expected to vote on S 1023, Travel Promotion Act of 2009
  • House will take up several matters under suspension of the rules, including:  HR 3165, Wind Energy Research and Development Act of 2009.  This bill would create a new wind energy demonstration program at the Energy Department, and pave the way for greater adoption of wind turbine designs, control systems, and production capacity.  Also under consideration is HR 445, Heavy Duty Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development and Demonstration Act of 2009.

Thursday, 9/11

The House will convene at 10:00am for legislative business and could take up a bill that would permanently authorize appropriations for the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network, HR 965.

HEARINGS AND MARKUPS

Wednesday, 9/10

  • Full Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry hearing on Agriculture, Forestry & Global Warming;
  • Full Senate Appropriations Committee markup on Defense Appropriations;
  • House Energy & Commerce subcommittee hearing on Medical Isotopes.
  • House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on American Conservation and Clean Energy Independence Act;

Thursday

  • Senate Finance Committee hearing on Oil and Gas Tax Proposals;
  • House Judiciary full committee hearing on Competition in Digital Books;
  • House Natural Resources full committee markup on Water, Parks, Trails, Scenic Rivers and Wilderness Bills;
  • House Select Energy Independence & Global Warming full committee hearing on United Nations Climate Conference

ARPA-E Seeks Stakeholder Input

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The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) is seeking public and stakeholder input on 1) programmatic areas well suited for support by ARPA-E and 2) specific scientific and technological opportunities to overcome key technological roadblocks to the development of widely market deployable transformational technologies relevant to the ARPA-E mission. The information collected through this process will assist ARPA-E in developing potential programs and funding opportunities.

Deadline for Comment: September 25, 2009

Submission Method: Responses are to be submitted as email attachments sent to Submission Method: Responses are to be submitted as email attachments sent to arpa-e-rfi@hq.doe.gov.

Full Notice

Update from Washington, DC

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Congress returns to work this week after a fractious August recess during which lawmakers were confronted about the public health insurance option and other contentious elements in Democratic health reform bills.  Policy experts already are identifying less controversial proposals that could attract support from moderate Democrats and even some Republicans.

Lawmakers hope to come up with a compromise on health reform by the middle of October.  If no compromise is found, it’s likely they will try to enact a series of smaller health measures. 

President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday to discuss health care overhaul legislation. Health care negotiations in both chambers are expected to dominate legislative business for much of the fall. 

Meanwhile, it seems all but certain that Congress will not be able to complete all twelve FY10 appropriations bills before the next fiscal year begins Oct. 1st.  Lawmakers will likely has to pass a continuing resolution (CR) later this month to fund federal agencies when FY10 begins. 

House and Senate leaders still hope to avoid an omnibus package.  Completing all of the bills individually will depend largely on how quickly the Senate acts on its eight remaining measures. 

The House has passed all twelve of their FY10 bills, but none of the measures has gone to conference or been enacted into law.  Four bills that both chambers have approved – Agriculture, Energy-Water, Homeland Security, and Legislative Branch – will likely be sent to the President for signature before October 1st. 

The Senate is expected to take up three of their FY10 spending bills this week, including Transportation-HUD, Interior-Environment, and Commerce-Justice-Science. The Defense spending bill will follow late this week or next, after subcommittee markup on Wednesday. 

Even with the busy legislative schedule this fall, we are looking forward to seeing several members of the UW community in DC and on Capitol Hill.  If you are planning on being in DC this fall, please get in touch with our office so that we can coordinate all the visits – and to ensure that you are getting appointments with the folks you need to see.  As always, we are here to help you advocate for your projects and programs! 

Christy Gullion, Director

NSF Set to Implement Responsible Conduct in Research Policy

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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing its implementation of Section 7009 of the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Act. This section of the Act requires that “each institution that applies for financial assistance from the Foundation for science and engineering research or education describe in its grant proposal a plan to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers participating in the proposed research project.”

The new policy will take effect on January 4, 2010. Institutions apply for grants will be required to certify compliance.

Full Federal Register Notice

New CDC H1N1 Guidance for Universities

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Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Department of Education (ED) Secretary Arne Duncan joined with Dr. Beth Bell, Deputy Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to announce new guidance for Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) to plan for and respond to the upcoming flu season.

The guidance crafted by the scientists and doctors at the CDC is designed to help colleges and universities start planning and acting now for the impact that seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza could have this fall and winter on their students and faculty members, as well as other university employees.  

Government officials are especially concerned about the impact of H1N1 on schools because the virus appears to disproportionately affect young people. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recently found that younger Americans, specifically those ages 6 months to 24 years, are one of the top priority groups when it comes to the new H1N1 vaccine.

HHS has created a special toolkit for administrators and students, as well some badges and widgets that can be used on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter

The new guidance suggests that the most important actions institutions can take are: to encourage and facilitate good hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes; to encourage flu vaccination for recommended groups when vaccine becomes available; and to separate sick people from well people as soon as possible.

The Secretaries and the CDC stressed the need for different institutions to tailor the strategies to their own circumstances, based on their location, student population, resources, and information from local health officials about the severity and spread of flu in their area, and encouraged them to partner with local health officials and others in their community to plan for the upcoming flu season.

For the complete H1N1 guidance for higher education institutions and the special H1N1 Higher Education, please visit http://www.flu.gov/plan/school/higheredguidance.html.

The Toolkit is available at http://www.flu.gov/plan/school/higheredtoolkit.html.