Issue 02 (January 27)

On January 29, join COSSA for the first Headlines webinar of the year. The COSSA Staff will cover recent key policy updates and what the future holds for advocacy in 2026. Register now and join the conversation.

Headlines is a webinar series available to COSSA member organizations. Watch for additional webinar announcements, and previous webinar recordings, on the COSSA website.

COSSA’s annual Social Science Advocacy Day is BACK and will take place March 23-24, 2026 in Washington, DC! This annual event brings together social and behavioral science researchers, faculty, students, association professionals, and other advocates from across the country. Together, we’ll meet with elected officials in Congress to discuss the value of our sciences and the importance of federal funding.

Register now to take advantage of early bird pricing and don’t forget to check out our sponsorship opportunities (some including free regsitrations). Early Bird Prices expire this Friday, January 30.

As previously reported, the House and Senate passed a three-bill package earlier this month that included fiscal year (FY) 2026 funding for federal science agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). COSSA’s in-depth analysis of the CJS bill can be found here.

Late last week, the House passed a separate four-bill package that contains the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) appropriations bill—which provides funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), and more—as well as the Defense, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Homeland Security bills. Similarly to the CJS bill, the LHHS bill, which can be read here, largely rejects the President’s proposed budget cuts to federal science agencies. In order to pass the package, however, the House considered the Homeland Security bill separately due to opposition from the House Democrats in light of events in Minnesota. Only seven Democrats broke rank to support the bill, while the other three bills passed with bipartisan support.

COSSA will be releasing a full analysis of the package in the coming days. In the meantime, here is a preview of what is included in the latest minibus:

Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), have announced they will not support the funding package until the DHS provisions are removed. It’s unclear if the Senate intends to split the package in order to pass the bills; however, with the continuing resolution (CR) set to expire at the end of this week, Congress risks another partial government-shutdown if they do not finalize the appropriations bills.

A summary of the bill from the House Republicans can be found here, and a summary from the House Democrats here. A joint explanatory statement between the House and Senate for the LHHS bill can be found here.

Stay tuned for COSSA’s continued coverage on the appropriations process.

On January 14, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Michael Kratsios defended the Trump Administration’s federal standards on artificial intelligence (AI) in front of the House Science, Space, and Technology (SST) Committee. As previously reported, the Trump Administration unveiled Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan last year, which outlines future federal policy actions designed to ensure the U.S. is a leader in global AI development across scientific, practical, and creative uses. Notably, Congressional members raised concerns about the Administration’s restriction of state’s ability to pass laws on AI development and usage, which was passed as a provision in the Big, Beautiful Bill (see previous COSSA coverage). The provision was controversial among both Democrats and Republicans but ultimately passed. Further, in December 2025, the Trump Administration doubled down with a clarifying Executive Order, Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence, which aims to allow companies to innovate by eliminating “cumbersome regulation” at the federal level through the establishment of a “minimally burdensome national policy framework for AI” (see previous COSSA coverage).

While there was agreement among the committee that the government should be responsible for constructing guardrails for the development and implementation of AI across the U.S., some Democratic members, including Rep. Hayley Stevens (D-MI) who currently serves as the Ranking Member of the Research and Technology Subcommittee, raised concerns over the Administration’s funding cuts, grant cancellations, and workforce reductions to agencies like the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST), which have previously, along with several other agencies, led AI research, development, and regulation in the federal government. To this end, Kratsios emphasized that the Administration continues to prioritize AI research and provide funding opportunities to “Americans” despite their attempts to “right-size” the federal budget. Despite his assurances, his comments raised further concerns in the community about the Administration’s intent to restrict foreign researchers from participating in the U.S. scientific research enterprise. A recording of the hearing can be viewed here.

Stay tuned for COSSA’s continued coverage on AI.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking public comment on a proposed update to its human research data policies, including a new NIH Controlled-Access Data Policy and revisions to the NIH Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) Policy. According to the request for information (RFI), the goal is to strengthen privacy and security protections, clarify requirements, and reduce duplicative burdens across NIH programs.

The proposed Controlled-Access Data Policy would define which human participant data must be shared through controlled-access systems, including personal identifiers, genomic and other “omics” data, health and financial information, facial imaging, and individual-level clinical trial data. It would also establish consistent security and operational standards for repositories managing these data.

NIH also proposes updates to the GDS Policy to better align it with newer NIH data sharing rules. Key changes include limiting the policy to human genomic data, simplifying the definition of “large-scale” studies (100 or more individuals), standardizing requirements across NIH, streamlining data sharing timelines, and modernizing consent, de-identification, and repository practices.

NIH invites feedback on the proposed policies by March 18, 2026. 

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) announced that Monica Bertagnolli, former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has been elected as the Academy’s next president. Bertagnolli’s six-year term will begin on July 1, 2026. She was elected as a member of the NAM in 2021 and will be the first woman to serve as president of the NAM since its establishment as the Institute of Medicine in 1970.

Previously, Bertagnolli served as director of the National Cancer Institute before becoming director of the NIH and earlier held academic and clinical leadership roles at Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center.

“I am deeply honored by the confidence the NAM membership has placed in me,” said Bertagnolli. “The Academy has a critically important role and mission as a trusted, nonpartisan adviser and is uniquely positioned to bring science, clinical expertise, and community experience together to improve health for everyone. I look forward to working with members, partners, and the public to advance a health system that truly serves everyone.”

Read the full announcement here.

On January 15, Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) announced Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar as their new Director. Cuéllar served as a Chair of the Board of Directors from 2016 to 2021, until he began his tenure as President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He holds a B.S. from Harvard, a law degree from Yale, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford. Previously, he also served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of California, taught law and political science at Stanford University, and served on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.

In his new role as Director, he will, “lead the Center’s new efforts to apply emerging knowledge to major societal challenges as well as its renowned residential fellowship program, which brings scholars from across disciplines to advance understanding of human behavior, institutions, and society.”

Read more about the appointment here. CASBS is a COSSA member organization.

This article was contributed by COSSA Intern Malia Gunterman.