Search Results: AI
OMB Seeks Feedback on Length of Executive Branch Comment Prohibition for Release of Economic Indicators
Statistical Policy Directive No. 3 recommends Executive Branch employees refrain from commenting on the release of principal federal economic indicators for 60 minutes after their release. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is seeking public comment on whether that 60-minute window is still appropriate given the many changes in the information landscape since the policy directive was issued in 1985. OMB is not considering changes to the embargo on the release of any information or comment about federal statistics before their official release by the statistical agencies, only whether policy officials should be allowed to comment earlier than 60…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 38 Issue 7
Featured News Administration Releases FY 2020 Budget Request; Read COSSA’s Analysis of Social Science Impacts COSSA in Action Read COSSA’s 2018 Annual Report Congressman Paul Tonko Answers “Why Social Science?” Letters & Statements Congressional News Release of President’s Budget Puts Pressure on Congress to Raise Caps; COSSA Urges Advocates to Take Action Congressional Appropriators Get to Work; NSF Director Testifies Federal Agency & Administration News IES Requests Comment on Proposed Priorities NSF Releases Dear Colleague on Research on Sexual Harassment in STEM Nomination Opportunities Funding Opportunities Notices & Requests for Comment Fellowships & Professional Development Community News & Reports Notices…
Administration Releases FY 2020 Budget Request; Read COSSA’s Analysis of Social Science Impacts
On March 11, the Trump Administration released a preview of its Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 budget request to Congress, with additional details unveiled the following weeks. The budget was delivered about a month late, largely due to the partial government shutdown that paralyzed much of the federal workforce throughout December and January. The President’s request proposes steep cuts to all corners of the federal budget, with the exception of national security-focused agencies which would see significant boosts. When considering the Trump Administration’s proposals for FY 2020 it is important to remember that the budget request remains a political, largely symbolic…
Congressional Appropriators Get to Work; NSF Director Testifies
Following the release of the Administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2020 budget request, Congressional leaders have gotten to work on spending bills for the coming fiscal year. As COSSA has previously reported, Congress must first address the limits to discretionary spending (“raise the caps”) before they can complete the FY 2020 appropriations process. Congress has until the end of September to finalize all government spending. COSSA has signed onto a letter as part of the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) to encourage Congress to raise the caps on discretionary spending. While Congress has yet to reach a broader budget deal…
IES Requests Comment on Proposed Priorities
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the Department of Education, has released a request for comment on proposed priorities for IES. The Federal Register Notice explains that the request is part of the process required by the agency’s authorizing legislation to receive public comment on priorities the Director of IES recommends to the National Board for Education Sciences. Proposed priorities fall into two categories: A Focus on Outcomes and Increasing Dissemination and Use. The Outcomes priority includes specific outcomes at the preschool, K-12, and postsecondary levels of education. The Dissemination and Use priority…
NSF Releases Dear Colleague on Research on Sexual Harassment in STEM
The National Science Foundation (NSF) released a Dear Colleague Letter on March 29 highlighting NSF’s continued support for competitive research that advances fundamental knowledge about the nature and underlying dynamics of sexual and other forms of harassment and the evaluation of harassment prevention in research, STEM, and workplace settings. The letter outlines that NSF has designated liaisons for harassment research in their research directorates and offices to help potential grantees determine whether a research idea is within the scope of the Dear Colleague Letter and appropriate for existing programs at NSF. The letter also includes several potential research foci in…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 38 Issue 6
Featured News Details of President’s FY 2020 Budget Request Emerge COSSA in Action COSSA Urges Action on Non-Defense Discretionary Spending COSSA Asks OMB to Remove Census Citizenship Question Letters & Statements Federal Agency & Administration News National Science Foundation Invites Participation in Convergence Accelerator Pilot William Beach Confirmed as BLS Commissioner Nomination Opportunities Funding Opportunities Notices & Requests for Comment Open Positions Fellowships & Professional Development Community News & Reports National Academies Releases Decadal Survey of the Social and Behavioral Science for Applications to National Security Nomination Opportunities Notices & Requests for Comment COSSA Member Spotlight Recent Reports Events Calendar
COSSA Urges Action on Non-Defense Discretionary Spending
Before Congress can fully dive in to the FY 2020 appropriations process (see related article), it must address a larger threat facing funding for next year. As COSSA has reported, the Budget Control Act of 2011 put in place caps on discretionary spending for every year between 2013 and 2021, which limit how much Congress can spend every year with an aim of reducing the federal deficit. Thankfully, Congress took action since 2013 to amend the law and raise the caps, which has allowed funding for federal research agencies to increase above the painful caps. Unfortunately, the relief enacted by…
COSSA Asks OMB to Remove Census Citizenship Question
In response to a Federal Register request, COSSA submitted a comment to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requesting that, should a Census citizenship question be reinstated by the Supreme Court, as has been proposed by the Trump Administration, OMB remove it from the 2020 Census on the grounds that it violates the Paperwork Reduction Act. COSSA argues that including the question “is of minimal practical utility or public benefit, will increase the burden on respondents, and will harm the integrity and accuracy of information collected for statistical purposes.” The full comment is available on the COSSA…
National Science Foundation Invites Participation in Convergence Accelerator Pilot
In a Dear Colleague letter released on March 18, the National Science Foundation (NSF) invited interested parties to participate in the NSF Convergence Accelerator Pilot. The NSF Convergence Accelerators Pilot seeks to accelerate use-inspired convergence research in areas of national importance by facilitating convergent team-building capacity around exploratory, potentially high-risk proposals. The Pilot seeks proposals to support fundamental research while encouraging rapid advances through partnerships that include, or will include, multiple stakeholders in three research tracks aligned with two of the NSF Ten Big Ideas. The three research tracks are: Open Knowledge Network (as part of the Harnessing the Data…
William Beach Confirmed as BLS Commissioner
On March 13, William Beach was confirmed as the next Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after a protracted wait. Beach was originally nominated by the Trump Administration in October 2017 (see COSSA’s previous coverage). He is an economist who spent much of his career at conservative think tanks and was most recently Vice President at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. He also spent several years as Chief Economist for the Senate Budget Committee Republican Staff and has been involved in the evidence-based policy-making activities of the last several years. The Friends of BLS, of which COSSA is a…
National Academies Releases Decadal Survey of Social and Behavioral Science Applications to National Security
On March 5, the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences of the National Academies of Science released a Consensus Study Report of the Decadal Survey of Social and Behavioral Science for Applications to National Security. A decadal survey is a method of engaging members of a scholarly community to identify lines of research with the greatest potential to be used over a 10-year period in pursuit of a particular goal. This is the first decadal survey to attempt to set a research agenda for the social and behavioral sciences or the intelligence community. The report, A Research Agenda for…
March’s Headlines Webchat to Feature Deep Dive on FY 2020 Budget Request
COSSA members are encouraged to sign up for the monthly Headlines webchat on March 14 at 2:00 pm Eastern, in which COSSA staff will recap the most important social and behavioral science news from the past month and answer participants’ questions. The March chat will feature a deep dive discussion with COSSA staff on the Trump Administration’s budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2020. Individuals employed by or affiliated with a COSSA member organization or university can register for the webchat here. Back to this issue’s table of contents.
Trump Administration to Release FY 2020 Budget Request Next Week
The Trump Administration is planning to release its fiscal year (FY) 2020 Budget Request in batches over the next couple of weeks. Due to the 35-day partial government shutdown and delayed ending to the FY 2019 appropriations process (see previous coverage), the President’s budget, which is supposed to be delivered to Congress in early February, is not expected until mid-March. Reports indicate that preliminary details will be released the week of March 11 with full details available the week of March 18. The research community is expecting another tough year for federal science agencies and programs, especially as the President…
NIH Seeks Input on the Need for an Administrative Data Enclave
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) on the potential development of a secure data enclave within the NIH using existing funds. This enclave would allow approved research organizations to access sensitive non-public NIH information such as information on peer review outcomes, grant progress reports, and demographic information of NIH grant applicants. NIH approval would be required for researchers to access the data. The NIH is seeking information about this proposed data enclave including examples of research that is currently not pursuable without such access, whether the benefits of a data enclave are worth…
May 2019 Headlines & Deep Dive on the National Academies’ Decadal Survey of Social Science Applications for Intelligence Analysis
View the slides COSSA’s May 2019 Headlines webchat featured a deep dive discussion with guests from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to discuss their recent consensus study report, A Decadal Survey of the Social and Behavioral Sciences: A Research Agenda for Advancing Intelligence Analysis.
April 2019 Headlines & Deep Dive FY 2020: Part II – Time to Act
View the slides. COSSA’s April 2019 Headlines webchat featured the second part of our discussion on fiscal year (FY) 2020, with newly released details on the Administration’s budget request for agencies important to social science, Congress’ response, and COSSA and the scientific community’s strategy to advocate for science and data.
June 2019 Headlines
View the slides. COSSA’s June 2019 Headlines webchat recapped the most important social and behavioral science news from the past month, including successes in this year’s appropriations season so far, new opportunities to weigh in on the government’s Federal Data Strategy, and more.
Compromise on FY 2019 Funding Reached, Averting Second Shutdown; Read COSSA’s Analysis of the Omnibus
After the longest partial-government shutdown in U.S. history, Congress came to a compromise on February 14 on funding the entire federal government for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2019, which began on October 1, 2018. The omnibus spending package contains 7 individual appropriations bills, including the Agriculture; Commerce, Justice, Science; Interior and Environment; Homeland Security; Financial Services and General Government; State and Foreign Operations; and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bills. On February 15, President Trump signed the bill into law, closing a painful chapter and officially kicking off work on FY 2020 funding. The final package…
Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Census Citizenship Question
The Supreme Court has announced that it will consider whether the Secretary of Commerce was within his rights to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 Census, after a judge in a lower court struck down the question in January. The Court agreed to hear arguments in the case in April and render a decision by the end of June to give the Administration enough time to make final preparations for the Census to be conducted next year. As COSSA has reported, the decision to add the citizenship question without conducting research to ensure the quality of Census data…