Volume 34 (2015)
Analysis of the FY 2016 Omnibus Appropriations Bill and Implications for Social and Behavioral Science Research
On December 15, House and Senate negotiators unveiled their final fiscal year (FY) 2016 omnibus appropriations bill, theĀ Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 (H.R. 2029), which includes all 12 of the individual appropriations bills and totals $1.15 trillion. Congress passed another short term continuing resolution (CR) on Wednesday to allow enough time for the House and Senate to pass the massive spending bill and for the President to sign it, which he has indicated he would. Policymakers now have until December 22 to achieve final passage. Assuming the House can pass the bill on Friday-which will require the support of several…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 34 Issue 23
Featured News FY 2016 Funding Debate Labors On Federal Agency & Administration News NSF Defends Research Targeted in GOP Waste Reports NIH Strategic Plan, PMI Cohort, HIV/AIDS, and Big Data Discussed at NIH Advisory Committee Meeting NIH Launches Next Phase of ECHO/Childrenās Study Follow-On Funding Opportunity Announcements COSSA Member Spotlight SPSSI Seeks Applicants for James Marshall Public Policy Fellowship Events Calendar Next Update: January 12, 2016
FY 2016 Funding Debate Labors On
Congress was forced to pass another funding extension last week in order to avoid a government shutdown on December 11. Policy makers have given themselves until December 16 at midnight to complete work on the fiscal year (FY) 2016 appropriations bills, allowing for a few more days to work through the many policy riders (dealing with Syrian refugees, Planned Parenthood, and about 40 others) that have slowed progress on the $1.1 trillion package over the last several weeks. As of the time of this writing, text of a final FY 2016 spending package (also known as an omnibus) has not…
NIH Strategic Plan, PMI Cohort, HIV/AIDS, and Big Data Discussed at NIH Advisory Committee Meeting
The December 10-11 meeting of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) included an update on the progress of several high-profile initiatives NIH is developing, including the Congressionally-mandated NIH-Wide Strategic Plan, the Presidentās proposed Precision Medicine Cohort Program, assessment of the NIH HIV/AIDS Research Priorities, and the NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2k) program.
NSF Defends Research Targeted in GOP Waste Reports
Two reports released in recent weeks by Republican policy makers point to hundreds of federally-funded activities they deem to be wasteful and unworthy of taxpayer support. Included in the reports are peer-reviewed research projects supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). Sen. James Lankfordās (R-OK) Federal Fumbles claims to identify ā100 ways the government dropped the ball,ā poking fun at six NSF grants and two NIH grants, among dozens of other projects. A second report was released just last week by Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Wastebook: The Farce Awakens. Flakeās report is said to…
SPSSI Seeks Applicants for James Marshall Public Policy Fellowship
The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), a COSSA member, is accepting applications for its James Marshall Public Policy Fellowship, which begins September 1, 2016. The Fellowship is designed to ātrain early career scientists to (1) contribute to the effective use of scientific knowledge about social issues in the formation of public policy at the federal level; (2) educate the scientific community about how research can contribute to the development of public policy; and (3) establish a more effective liaison between social scientists and various policy-making mechanisms.ā The fellowship is a one-year full-time post-doctoral level appointment in…
Events Calendar
American Economic Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, January 3-5, 2016 Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, New York, NY, January 6-9, 2016 American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, January 7-10, 2016 Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, January 7-10, 2016 Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, San Juan, PR, January 7-9, 2016 Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference, Washington, DC, January 13-17, 2016 Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention, San Diego, CA, January 28-30, 2016 American Psychosomatic Society Annual Scientific Meeting, Denver, CO, March 9-12, 2016 COSSA Annual Meeting & Social…
Funding Opportunity Announcements
NIFA: Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (USDA-NIFA-ICGP-005517) AHRQ: Increasing Access to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) in Rural Primary Care Practices (R18) (RFA-HS-16-001) NIJ: Research on Measurement of Teen Dating Violence (NIJ-2016-9001) HRSA: Bridging the Word Gap Challenge NIH: Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program NIH: Notice to Extend PAR-13-055 Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R01) (NOT-CA-16-006) [NCI, NCCIH, NHLBI, NHGRI, NIA, NIAAA, NIAID, NICHD, NIDCD, NIDCR, NIDDK, NIDA, NINDS, NIMH, NIMHD, NINR, and OBSSR] NIH: Notice to Extend PAR-13-054 Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R21)Ā (NOT-CA-16-007) [NIMH, NCI, NHGRI, NIA, NIAAA, NIAID, NICHD, NIDCD, NIDCR, NIDA, NINDS,…
NIH Launches Next Phase of ECHO/Childrenās Study Follow-On
On December 7, National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Francis Collins announced the next funding phase of the agencyās Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program, which includes seven new funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). ECHO is designed to comport with the goals of the National Childrenās Study (NCS) (see Update, November 3, 2015) and is being implemented via a series of funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). It is expected that the ECHO program will be supported by and build onĀ recent awardsĀ NIH made in September (see Update, September 4, 2015). A nationwide searchĀ is underway for an ECHO program manager. In the…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 34 Issue 22
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, this is an abbreviated edition of the COSSA Washington Update. We will be back on Tuesday, December 15 for our last issue of the year. Featured News Deadline for Comments on Common Rule NPRM Extended Federal Agency & Administration News BEA Releases State-Level Consumer Spending Data NIH Issues Notice Clarifying its Health Economics Research Priorities NIH Issues Funding Opportunity to Support the PMI Cohort Program Direct Volunteer Pilot Studies COSSA Member Spotlight COSSA Members Respond to OBSSR Strategic Plan Events Calendar
BEA Releases State-Level Consumer Spending Data
For the first time, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will begin regularly releasing official statistics detailing consumer spending by state. The data will include total consumer spending in each state, breakouts of consumer spending in specific categories and sectors, and per-capita consumer spending from 1997 through 2014. BEA began releasing prototype estimates in 2014; previously, only national consumer-spending data was available. Back to this issueās table of contents.
Deadline for Comments on Common Rule NPRM Extended
The Department of Health and Human Services has announced that it will extend the period for public comment on the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) for the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (otherwise known as the Common Rule) by 30 days. The new deadline is January 6, 2016. A summary of the major changes to the regulations proposed in the NPRM is available here. Back to this issueās table of contents.
NIH Issues Notice Clarifying its Health Economics Research Priorities
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a Guide Notice on November 25, to āclarify NIH policy related to funding health economics research,ā in an effort to delineate NIHās āpriority areas of health economics research as well as reach aims that generally fall outside of the NIH mission.ā The notice is part of an ongoing issue that dates back to 2012 Congressional language in the Fiscal Year 2013 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill that bans the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from supporting economics research. Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) responded to the language, along with 82…
NIH Issues Funding Opportunity to Support the PMI Cohort Program Direct Volunteer Pilot Studies
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking proposals for pilot studies and āthe needed information technology support for the development of the Direct Volunteer component of the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) Cohort Program.ā The agency plans to build a ānational research cohort of one million or more volunteers who are engaged as partners in a longitudinal, long-term effort to identify the molecular, environmental and behavioral factors that contribute to diverse diseases, to facilitate the development and testing of novel therapies and prevention approaches, and to pioneer mHealth [mobile health] strategies for improving the efficacy of health care.ā To that…
COSSA Members Respond to OBSSR Strategic Plan
Several COSSA member organizations responded to the recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) Request for Information (RFI) regarding its 2016-2020 Strategic Plan (see Update, November 3, 2015). In addition to stressing the challenges and opportunities for the behavioral sciences, the groups emphasize the need for continued leadership by OBSSR within NIH and the federal government. Below are highlights from the comments submitted by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), American Psychological Association (APA), the Population Association of America/Association of Population Centers (PAA/APC), and the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM).
Events Calendar
American Economic Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, January 3-5, 2016 Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, New York, NY, January 6-9, 2016 American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, January 7-10, 2016 Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, January 7-10, 2016 Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, San Juan, PR, January 7-9, 2016 Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference, Washington, DC, January 13-17, 2016 Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention, San Diego, CA, January 28-30, 2016 American Psychosomatic Society Annual Scientific Meeting, Denver, CO, March 9-12, 2016 COSSA Annual Meeting & Social…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 34 Issue 21
Featured News Save the Date: COSSA Annual Meeting & Advocacy Day, March 15-16 Congressional News Sam Farr, Ranking Member on House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Announces Retirement Federal Agency & Administration News NIH Seeks Input for Alzheimerās Disease-Related Dementia 2016 Plan NIDA Announces New Challenge: āAddiction Research: Thereās an App for thatā NCATS Issues RFI for Input into Strategic Plan OBSSR Hosts Seminar on Video Games and Neuroscience COSSA Member Spotlight COSSA Members among Worldās Top 100 Social Science Universities AERA Hold Annual Brown Lecture on āIndigenous Pathways toward Justiceā Events Calendar
Save the Date: COSSA Annual Meeting & Advocacy Day, March 15-16
COSSA will hold its 2016 Annual Meeting and Social and Behavioral Science Advocacy Day on March 15 and 16 in Washington, DC. The meeting brings together more than 100 members of the social and behavioral science community and provides a platform for COSSA members to engage with leaders of federal agencies, Congressional staff, and colleagues from across the science and higher education communities. The meeting on March 15 will take place at the George Washington University Marvin Center and will feature updates from leaders at federal science agencies and panels highlighting issues impacting the social and behavioral science community. On…
Sam Farr, Ranking Member on House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Announces Retirement
Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) announced his retirement from Congress at the end of his term after 22 years in the House. Farr is the Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. As Ranking Member, Farr has been a vocal advocate for agricultural science and statistics, memorably speaking out on the House floor against a proposed amendment to cut funding for the Economic Research Service (ERS) in 2014. It remains to be seen who will fill Farrās spot. Currently, only three other Democrats serve on the Subcommittee. Back to this…
NIH Seeks Input for Alzheimerās Disease-Related Dementia 2016 Plan
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institute on Aging (NIA), and the Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) within the National Institutes of Health recently released a time-sensitive requestāfor-information (RFI) (NOT-NS-15-045) seeking the input of the scientific and broader community regarding the āmost important needs and promising opportunities for researchā on Alzheimerās Disease-Related Dementia (ADRD). The information received will be used to update the National Plan to Address Alzheimerās Disease, which is congressionally mandated to be updated annually (see Update, August 10, 2015). Additionally, the RFI announces a March 29-30, 2016 ADRD 2016 Summit sponsored by NINDS…