House Committee Offers Increases for NIH, NSF, NASA, Student Aid
BU IN DC
Ibram X. Kendi of the Center for Antiracist Research addressed the AFT TEACH Virtual Conference on July 7th.
HOUSE COMMITTEE OFFERS INCREASES FOR NIH, NSF, NASA, STUDENT AID
This week, the House Appropriations Committee approved spending bills that would significantly increase federal science and student aid investments in fiscal year 2022. The bills, which have been sent to the full U.S. House of Representatives for approval, would provide:
- $49 billion for the National Institutes of Health, a 14.2% increase
- $9.63 billion for the National Science Foundation, a 13.6% increase
- $7.97 billion for NASA Science programs, an 9.2% increase
- $7.32 billion for the Department of Energy Office of Science, a 4.2% increase
- $2.4 billion for Department of Defense basic research, a 7% decrease
- $762.5 million for the Institute for Education Sciences, an 18.7% increase
- $6,895 for the Pell Grant maximum award, a 6.1% increase
- $1.43 billion for Federal-Work Study, a 20% increase
The U.S. Senate is expected to unveil its version of the spending bills later this summer, and then both chambers will need to agree on a final spending level with the Biden Administration. Although the federal fiscal year starts on October 1st, lawmakers will probably need a continuing resolution to keep the government operating while they finalize their spending decisions later in the year.
BUZZ BITS…
- The National Science Foundation (NSF) has named Dr. Susan S. Margulies as the new head of the NSF Engineering Directorate and Dr. Alexandra Isern as the new head of the NSF Geosciences Directorate. Margulies previously chaired the biomedical engineering department at Emory University and Georgia Tech. Isern has worked at NSF for twenty years.
- President Joe Biden nominated BU alumna Rachel Jacobson (LAW ’84) as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Environment. Jacobson has previously held roles at the Departments of Interior, Justice, and Defense.
- BU alumna Janet Petro (MET ’88) has been named the 11th head of the Kennedy Space Center. She had been deputy director since 2007, and acting director since May 2021.
- Danielle Carnival has been named senior advisor for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s anti-cancer activities, focusing on “patient engagement and outreach for cancer and other diseases building on the spirit and learnings from the Cancer Moonshot.” Carnival is a neuroscientist who was previously involved in Cancer Moonshot activities for the Obama Administration.
POLICYMAKERS DISCUSS HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRATION
The House Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship held a hearing on Tuesday entitled “Oh, Canada! How Outdated U.S. Immigration Policies Push Top Talent to Other Countries.” Witnesses described the importance of international scholars to American’s scientific enterprise and why these scholars are increasingly choosing to study and work in nations other than the United States, such as Canada. The hearing follows the Biden Administration’s decision to withdraw the Trump Administration’s controversial “duration of status” proposal, which would have arbitrarily limited how long international students could study in the United States.
Watch the hearing