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INSIDE (The Beltway) SCOOP
- Jon Retzlaff, Legislative Director
Unlike last year, the President’s State of the
Union address (January 23, 2007) failed to
highlight or even mention the issue that ranks
as most important among FASEB society
members, specifically the commitment to provide
support for the key Federal agencies
that sponsor research. You may recall that the
President proposed in last year’s State of
the Union address to fund the American
Competitiveness Initiative, a bold concept
to
double (over 10 years) our nation’s investment
in the physical sciences and engineering
basic science research programs at the National
Science Foundation (NSF), the
Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and
the Department of Commerce’s National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
However, this year’s State of the Union address
was more focused on his plan to
eliminate the deficit by 2012, and his
willingness to constrain domestic discretionary
spending to accomplish the goal. The President’s
plan to balance the budget in 5 years
(through cutting domestic discretionary spending
rather than increasing revenues) will
create problems for the Federal agencies that
sponsor basic research. Moreover, I fully
expect that when the President submits his
FY2008 budget on February 5, 2007, he will
propose to cut NIH’s budget in FY2008.
Fortunately, with a Democratic Congress in
place, the President’s budget will in many
ways be regarded as “dead on arrival.” And, in
addition to the skeptical audience the
President’s budget will receive from Congress, a
recent poll showed that only 22 percent
of Americans say they want the President to set
policy for the country. Therefore,
FASEB’s main focus will be to make sure Congress
realizes that failing to invest in basic
and clinical research programs will jeopardize
our nation’s abilities to improve people’s
health.
CONGRESSIONAL MEETINGS
FASEB Meets With Ag Committee Staff to
Discuss Farm Bill, NIFA
The Farm Bill is due for reauthorization in 2007
and previous reauthorization efforts have
included attempts by animal rights organizations
to add provisions that could have deleterious
effects on the use of animal models in research.
FASEB Director of Communications, Carrie D.
Wolinetz, Ph.D., Legislative Director Jon
Retzlaff, together with colleagues Alice Ra’anan
of the American Physiological Society and
Sangeeta Panicker, Ph.D., of the American
Psychological Society, met with Senate and House
staff on the Agriculture committees to discuss
the upcoming Farm Bill. Topics of discussion
ranged from the
use of animal models in research, to
Class B animal dealers, to the
proposed establishment of the
National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
FASEB and our advocacy partners will be closely
monitoring development of the Farm Bill as it
moves forward.
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CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS
Senate Hearing on Embryonic Stem Cell
Research
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
(HELP) Committee and Labor-HHS
appropriations subcommittee held a
joint hearing on January 19 on human
embryonic
stem cell (hESC) research. HELP Committee
Chairman Kennedy (D-MA), Ranking
Member Enzi (R-WY), Labor-HHS Subcommittee
Chairman Harking (D-IA), Ranking
Member Specter (R-PA), Senators Hatch (R-UT),
Brown (D-OH), Lautenberg (D-NJ),
Reed (D-RI), Isakson (R-GA), Coburn (R-OK),
Sanders (I-VT), Allard (R-CO) and
Murkowski (R-AK) were present, and the nearly
all stayed through the entire three hour
hearing. There were dramatic moments during the
passionate statements offered by
lawmakers in favor or opposition to hESC
research, such as Senator Hatch waving
around a pair of handcuffs to illustrate the
restrictions felt by researchers and Senator
Enzi suggesting that hESC research would lead to
unscrupulous experimentation on the
elderly.
Witnesses included a 15 year old girl with Type
1 diabetes, who offered compelling
testimony about her hope for a “normal” life, as
well as: Drs. George Daley of Children’s
Hospital in Boston; John Warner, Jr. University
of Minnesota Medical School; and
Storey Landis, Director of NINDS and Vice-Chair
of the NIH Stem Cell Task Force.
Each of the experts expressed strong support for
both embryonic and non-embryonic
stem cell research and described the
frustrations of the current system. Senator
Kennedy announced his intention to try to bring
the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which
has already
passed the House, to a vote in the
Senate sometime in February. While it is
possible the Senate will have enough votes (67)
to ensure the override of an expected
Presidential veto of the bill, it seems unlikely
that the House would follow suit. The bill
passed the House approximately 30 votes short of
a veto override.
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FASEB NEWS
FASEB’s Federal Funding Press Conference
On January 31, 2007, FASEB will hold its annual
press conference to release our latest
report, Federal Funding for Biomedical & Related
Life Sciences FY2008. FASEB’s
President, Leo Furcht, M.D., will be on hand to
answer questions about the report, which
provides the argument for making federal
research funding a priority, and to discuss
FASEB’s strategy for advocating on behalf of the
scientific community for the upcoming
fiscal year. A major theme of this report and
likely future funding recommendations from
FASEB will be aimed at sustainability of the
scientific enterprise.
This annual event is an opportunity for FASEB to
let policymakers and the public know
the critical importance of supporting the basic
and clinical research that underlies
economic advancement, our health and our quality
of life.
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CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE
The House and Senate are in session. The next
scheduled recess is the week of February 19.
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WASHINGTON UPDATE |
