HHS Personnel; Budget Resolutions; DEI Guidance
BU IN DC
President Emeritus Robert A. Brown spoke at the Summit on Higher Education Finance and the Economy on February 14th.
Director of the Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering Yannis Paschalidis spoke at the National Science Foundation’s Inaugural National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot Annual Meeting on February 19th.
TRANSITION UPDATES: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made several significant personnel changes:
- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was sworn in as HHS Secretary. The White House subsequently announced that Secretary Kennedy would chair a Make America Healthy Again Commission focused on chronic disease.
- Principal Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Dr. Lawrence Tabak retired from the NIH after more than two decades in leadership roles, including two years as acting director. Tabak was the agency’s second most senior official and previously led the dental institute.
- NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research Dr. Mike Lauer also retired after nearly twenty years with the agency. He led the extramural research office since 2015 and was the NIH’s primary liaison with university grantees.
- Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Director Dr. Renee Wegrzyn was removed from her position. Dr. Wegrzyn was the founding director of ARPA-H and had one year remaining in her four-year term.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Senior Advisor and Acting Principal Deputy Director Dr. Nirav Shah announced he would step down from the CDC at the end of February. Shah is the second-ranking official at the agency. He previously led Maine’s public health agency.
- HHS agency staff were impacted by the Trump Administration’s widespread layoffs of federal employees. News reports indicate that 1,200 NIH employees and 750 CDC employees were told they were being fired.
BUDGET BILLS ADVANCE IN CONGRESS
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate are advancing separate budget resolutions that set the stage for their plan to extend the 2017 tax cuts enacted during President Donald J. Trump’s first term in office. A resolution passed by the House Budget Committee last week asks Congressional committees to find $2 trillion in spending cuts, including $330 billion in education cuts. According to a menu of options released by House Republicans, they are considering reducing nonprofit sector tax benefits, expanding the taxation of university endowments, and reducing spending on graduate medical education. The Senate approved the first of two planned budget bills this week; the second bill is expected to identify how much to cut from federal education and health activities.
BUZZ BITS…
- On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions approved Linda McMahon’s nomination to lead the U.S. Department of Education on a party line 12-11 vote. The full U.S. Senate is expected to vote on her nomination in the next two weeks.
- Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rescinded a Biden Administration memorandum that had recognized student-athletes as employees eligible to collectively bargain. The action restores the NLRB’s position under President Trump’s first term that student-athletes do not have the legal protections afforded to employees.
- On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague letter that asserts a broad, new interpretation of civil rights law and says that schools may be investigated for considering race in financial aid, graduation ceremonies, housing, and other aspects of campus life. Given the letter’s significant departure from existing law, educational institutions are currently awaiting further clarifying guidance from the Department.