Issue 18 (September 19)

Congress is back in session and the fiscal year (FY) 2024 appropriations process is underway. On September 17, House Republicans unveiled a draft continuing resolution (CR) that is set to be voted on later this week. The CR would extend the appropriations deadline from September 30 to October 31, and, under the proposal, nondefense discretionary spending would see an 8.1 percent cut excluding the Department of Veterans Affairs and disaster relief accounts while defense would see an increase. It is unlikely that the Democrats will support the bill, and several Republicans, including Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Eli Crane (R-AZ), and Matt Rosendale (R-MT), have voiced concerns about the stopgap measure. With the House GOP’s slim majority, the bill will likely face opposition on the floor.

As previously reported, the House has passed the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill while the Senate continues to push for votes on all twelve completed appropriations bills. Last week, the Senate sought a vote on a package of three bipartisan appropriations bills but the process was halted by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) in favor of reviewing them individually. The Senate has also reportedly been preparing a stopgap measure.

While a CR would extend the deadline and allow Congress to continue reviewing appropriations bills, the outlook is still uncertain due to the standoff between the two chambers. As previously reported by COSSA, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) bills in the two chambers have an 18.7 percent difference between them while the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) bills differ by 32.7 percent. With the deadline rapidly approaching, Congress will need to pass a continuing resolution in the coming days to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Stay tuned for updates from COSSA on the appropriations process.

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a request for information for the codification of the four fundamental responsibilities of the Codification of Statistical Policy Directive No. 1 (Trust Regulation) within the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA). The responsibilities are the production of relevant and timely data, ensuring that data is credible and accurate, remaining objective, and protecting confidentiality. In a recent webinar on the Trust Regulation hosted by the American Statistical Association, a COSSA Governing Member, U.S. Chief Statistician, Karin A. Orvis, highlighted the importance of codifying the responsibilities to improve transparency in the agency and improve public perception of federal statistics.

Comments are requested by October 2 and can be submitted here. 

On September 11, the Institute of Education Sciences’ (IES) National Board of Education Sciences (NBES) met for the first time in six years. As previously reported, the Biden Administration appointed members to NBES in November 2022, allowing the board to resume it’s work with the institute to ensure their priorities are consistent with its mission. NBES is also responsible for strengthening procedures for technical and scientific peer review, presenting recommendations to improve education research, soliciting advice and information from the field, and ensuring IES is compliant with the Education Sciences Reform Act. The meeting was attended by Mark Schneider, director of IES, who spoke on behalf of the agency.

Meeting minutes are available on the NBES website. 

The National Science Board (NSB) is now welcoming nominations for its 2024 Honorary Awards. There are two awards for which nominations can be submitted:

• Vannevar Bush Award, honoring exceptional lifelong leaders in science and technology.
• Science & Society Award, recognizing those who enhance public understanding of science and engineering, or foster diversity in STEM, or inspire scientists and engineers to address society needs.

Deadline for nominations is September 29. Details on the two awards can be found on the NSB website. 

On September 7, Research!America hosted a discussion with the American Psychological Association (APA). During the discussion, APA’s Chief Science Officer, Dr. Mitch Prinstein, shared APA’s new research focus on the effects of social media use on adolescents. The findings highlight the need for further investment into social science research that informs safer policy and ensures healthier online environments for our nation’s youth.

A few critical concerns from the research study include:

• Prevalent racism and biases coded into social media algorithms, reflecting societal disparities.
• A pressing need to discern the type of social media content conducive for a child’s healthy development versus content that may be harmful.
• Evidence suggesting social media usage reduces adolescents’ sleep duration, potentially impairing brain growth.
• Data revealing that 95 percent of teenagers exceed their anticipated screen time on social media platforms, with a concerning 1-in-4 confessing to dealing with a form of addiction.

In his concluding remarks, Dr. Prinstein underscored the importance of platform transparency and advocated for social media literacy initiatives to help pave the way for a safer digital future.
APA is actively looking into ways to harness its research expertise and best practices, aiming for a collaborative approach with both public and private sectors. APA is a COSSA governing member organization.