2014 FASEB UPDATES FOR ISCB

By Allison Lea and Jennifer Zeitzer

ISCB is a member of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), a coalition of 27 scientific societies representing over 120,000 researchers from around the world. FASEB works to promote biological research and has become an organization that legislators, federal agencies, and the media turn to for information on policies related to biomedical science and engineering.

FASEB's Office of Public Affairs (OPA) staff and FASEB elected leaders meet regularly with National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) officials to provide the prospective of the membership on a wide range of issues. On May 30, NIH Deputy Director, Kathy Hudson, PhD, spoke to FASEB's public affairs staff and society staff about upcoming and ongoing NIH initiatives, including Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) and Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN).

That same day, FASEB met with Phil Bourne, PhD, NIH's first Associate Director for Data Science. Dr. Bourne discussed the challenges NIH is facing with data sharing and the initiatives in the NIH pipeline to address them. For example, NIH plans to build The Commons -- a public database that will be a part of a public-private partnership between government, academia, and industry to support data sharing and pre competitive collaboration to further scientific discovery. BD2K will support The Commons with data discovery index, software development, training centers, and grants.

On June 2, newly appointed NSF Director France Cordova, PhD, spoke at the FASEB Board meeting, where she shared NSF's priorities and initiatives, such as fundamental research for climate change, the BRAIN Initiative, promoting clean energy, collaborating with other federal agencies, and promoting minorities in science. She also recognized and praised FASEB for its support of the federal science agencies.

Federal Funding for Biomedical Research

This spring, FASEB released its factsheets demonstrating fiscal year (FY) 2013 NIH funding for all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico. In an effort to increase federal funding for biomedical research, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) sent a "Dear Colleague" letter to the members of the U.S. Senate highlighting the FASEB factsheets as an example of the critical support NIH provides to thousands of investigators around the country. Senator Harkin has been a long-time supporter of biomedical research and an advocate on Capitol Hill for increased funding for NIH.

The budget agreement Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) reached in December has paved the way for Congress to get an early start on the FY 2015 spending bills. Having achieved consensus on the top-line spending limit ($1.014 trillion), the Appropriations Committees have made progress on the legislation that funds the federal agencies, including NIH and NSF. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) bill by a unanimous 30-0 vote, providing $7.2 billion for NSF (the same as President Obama's request and the FY 2014 level). Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) noted that the Ryan-Murray deal left the appropriators with "extremely tough choices" to make. NSF would fare slightly better under the CJS bill (HR 4660) approved by the House on a bipartisan vote of 321-87. The House raised NSF's budget to $7.41 billion, an increase of $237 million or 3.3 percent over the FY 2014 level.

On June 10, the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee approved a bill that provides $30.45 billion for NIH, an increase of $605 million (1.8 percent) above the FY 2014 level. A press release summarizing the bill notes that the NIH funding level "is sufficient, when combined with the $1,000,000,000 increase appropriated in FY 2014, to fully replace the FY 2013 sequester cut to NIH." The Senate LHHS bill must still be approved by the full Appropriations Committee. The House has not yet considered the NIH funding measure.

Regulatory Burden

In March, the National Science Board (NSB) released its report, Reducing Investigators' Administrative Workload for Federally Funded Research, which included the following overarching recommendations: (1) postpone certain administrative requirements until the grant proposal has been approved; (2) eliminate or modify ineffective regulations; (3) harmonize and streamline requirements; and (4) increase university efficiency and effectiveness. These proposals are similar to the recommendations FASEB made in May 2013 in response NSB's Request for Information on administrative burdens. FASEB's response was drawn from the feedback provided by FASEB's Science Policy Committee and a survey of over 1,300 scientists conducted by the Federation. FASEB will continue to work with the NSB and federal agencies as they seek ways to implement these recommendations.