A staple since COSSAâs earliest days, the biweekly COSSA Washington Update newsletter provides members and the public with comprehensive coverage of policy developments impacting social and behavioral science research.Â
Latest from the White House (January 13)
In December, the White House released the Presidentâs Management Agenda (PMA). Administrations have been issuing PMAs since the George W. Bush presidency in 2001. The agendas represent the Presidentâs strategy for improving the management and performance of the federal government by identifying specific goals and metrics. Its signature feature has been a scorecard that tracks progress by each federal agency across several measures, such as human capital or budget performance. Each Administration puts their own spin on the PMA; however, they have traditionally built off their predecessorâs agendas to ensure continuity in government improvement. However, the Trump Administrationâs PMA released last month reads…
ICYMI: New Executive Order Takes Aim at State AI Laws
On December 11, the White House issued its latest Executive Order (EO) related to artificial intelligence (AI), Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence. The order states its aim to allow companies to innovate by eliminating âcumbersome regulationâ at the federal level through the establishment of a âminimally burdensome national policy framework for AI.â Until national standards governing AI can be established, the EO directs the Attorney General to form an âAI Litigation Task Forceâ responsible for identifying and challenging state laws that appear inconsistent with the federal policy. Through the evaluation the Task Force will be looking for state laws…
NSF Seeks Input on New Tech Labs InitiativeâDue January 20
The National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate, has launched a new initiative aimed at accelerating âpractical research with real-world applications.â Tech Labs will support research, development and innovation (RDI) teams âfocused on overcoming persistent barriers to the commercialization of emerging technologies.â According to the announcement, these teams âwill focus on technical challenges and bottlenecks that traditional university and industry labs cannot easily solve on their own.â NSF is seeking public input through a request for information. Comments are due January 20. In addition, NSF is hosting an informational webinar on January 14 (register here).
National Science Board Releases Anticipated Merit Review Report
As previously reported, the National Science Board (NSB), which is the policy-making body of the National Science Foundation (NSF), created a Commission on Merit Review in 2023 to take a fresh look at NSFâs current merit review criteria and make recommendations for potential improvement or modernization. After several delays, the Commission released its report on December 17. The report, Merit Review for a Changing Landscape, contains an in-depth evaluation of NSFâs longstanding review process and makes several recommendations, including: The release of the NSB report comes on the heels of new Merit Review rules that took effect December 15, 2025. Among the changes announced…
PAA Holds Congressional Briefing on U.S. Fertility Trends
On December 10, the Population Association of America (PAA), a COSSA governing member, and the Association of Population Centers (APC) hosted a Congressional briefing, âU.S. Birth Rate Trends: Patterns, Drivers, and Implications for U.S. Families.â The in-person event drew interest from almost 100 registrants representing the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, National Institutes of Health, Government Accountability Office, National Academies of Science, Congressional Research Service, a range of scientific and health stakeholder organizations, and the media. The event was moderated by Dr. Jennifer Sciubba, President and CEO of the Population Reference Bureau, and featured presentations by Dr. Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Director…
Reminder to Register: Final Headlines Webinar of 2025!
On December 10, join COSSA for the final Headlines webinar of the year. We will cover key policy developments and Congressional activity that affected the social and behavioral sciences in 2025 and preview whatâs ahead for 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.
Social Science Advocacy Day: Early Bird Registration is Open
COSSAâs 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. Early Bird Registration is officially open! Register now to take advantage of early bird pricing and don’t forget to check out our sponsorship opportunities (some including free regsitrations).
Appropriations Bills Stalled; Congress to Consider NDAA
As the year approaches its end, Congress is still working to finish the fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills. Most of the federal government is currently funded under a continuing resolution (CR) that gives lawmakers until January 30, 2026 to complete their work (reminder: the new fiscal year began on October 1). With the upcoming two-week recess for the holidays, Congress is on a tight deadline. As previously reported by COSSA, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has reiterated that the Senate has plans to consider the Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS), Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS),…
Equal Representation Act
On December 2, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee advanced the Equal Representation Act (H.R. 151). The act, which was led by Congressman Chuck Edwards (R-NC), seeks to include a citizenship question on the decennial census and exclude non-citizens from congressional apportionment. COSSA signed onto a letter to Congress led by the Population Association of America (PAA), a COSSA governing member, earlier this year opposing this legislation as these changes could potentially undermine participation in the decennial census and, therefore, ultimately diminish the quality and utility of decennial census data. This could have devastating effects for researchers that rely on the data. There…
Cassidy Urges CDC to Reject ACIPâs New Hepatitis B Recommendation
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met earlier this month for their final meeting of the year. During their meeting, ACIP voted in favor (8-3) of reversing the recommendation that the Hepatitis B vaccine be administered to children at birth regardless of if the mother is negative for the virus or doesnât know their status. A recording of the meeting is available here and the recommendation is expected to be posted here. Before the meeting took place, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who served as a physician prior to…
Request for Information: Accelerating the American Scientific Enterprise
Before the Thanksgiving break, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a request for information (RFI) on Accelerating the American Scientific Enterprise. The RFI states that advances in scientific opportunity, like artificial intelligence and quantum computing, coupled with intensified global competition âcall for a comprehensive assessment of how the federal government prioritizes and structures scientific research.â The RFI is asking stakeholders to respond to 13 questions that âwill inform the formulation of Executive branch efforts to advance and maintain U.S. S&T leadership.â Questions cover topics such as funding mechanisms that could improve public-private collaborations, ways to support…
ICYMI: NIH Modifies Funding Strategy, Moves Away from Paylines
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a notice on November 21 outlining a framework for âImplementing a Unified NIH Funding Strategy to Guide Consistent and Clearer Award Decisions.â The notice follows on an August statement from the NIH Director. The framework describes a need to âbalance many competing and dynamic factors when determining the most meritorious research ideas to support,â such as peer review, availability of funds, and health priorities, among others. Starting with the January 2026 Councils, all NIH institutes and centers (ICs) will be expected to follow the same funding policies, including the following core tenets: In addition, the notice…
ASA Releases “The Nation’s Data at Risk” Report for 2025
The American Statistical Association’s (ASA) “Federal Statistics Health” project team announced the release of “The Nation’s Data at Risk: 2025 Report”. The report updates the team’s assessment of the health of the federal statistical agencies since the July 2024 release of the inaugural report. The report will go live at 7am EST on December 10 on the project website. ASA will also be hosting a webinar on December 10 at 10am EST. Register here. ASA is a COSSA governing member.
COSSA 101: “What is Appropriations?”
COSSA is excited to announce the latest brief in our COSSA 101: A Crash Course on the Federal Government series: “What is Appropriations?“ The series will continue to provide easy-to-understand information about the inner workings of the federal government and how they affect social and behavioral science research. Continue to check back on the homepage to discover new briefs. Do you have a federal government topic you would like explained by COSSA 101? Send us your ideas! Other recent topics include, “What is a Government Shutdown?“
Meet COSSAâs Policy Intern: Anne Tighe!
Anne Tighe started as COSSAâs policy intern in September. Before she signs off, she provided some reflections from her time at COSSA! How did you learn about COSSA and the opportunity to serve as a policy intern? While seeking fall internship opportunities on Handshake, I encountered COSSAâs Government Affairs and Public Policy Internship. My interest was piqued in the chance to advocate for a cause I am passionate about while working with the federal government. In my previous experience as a Community Affairs Liaison for the New York State government, I spent my summer in Queens helping connect constituents with…
Congress Turns to Final Appropriations Bills Following End of Government Shutdown
As previously reported by COSSA, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) that extends fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding through to January 30, 2026, ending the weeks-long government shutdown and giving Appropriators additional time to finish their work on FY 2026 funding. Currently, only three appropriations bills have been enacted into lawâeach having been attached to the CRâincluding the Agriculture bill, Legislative Branch bill, and Veteran Affairs bill. Despite delays, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has reiterated that the Senate has plans to consider the Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS), Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS), and Transportation,…
Trump Administration launches AI-focused âGenesis Missionâ
On November 24, the White House issued an executive order (EO), Launching the Genesis Mission. It is the latest action by the Trump Administration seeking to establish American leadership in artificial intelligence (AI). Genesis Mission, according to the EO, will âunleash a new age of AI-accelerated innovation and discoveryâ by â[building] an integrated AI platform to harness Federal scientific datasetsâthe worldâs largest collection of such datasets, developed over decades of Federal investmentsâto train scientific foundation models and create AI agents to test new hypotheses, automate research workflows, and accelerate scientific breakthroughs.â The Department of Energy (DOE) is tasked with implementing the mission with…
NSF Downsizes its Physical Location
Earlier this month the General Services Administration (GSA) announced the location of the new Alexandria, VA headquarters of the National Science Foundation (NSF). As previously reported, it was announced in July that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) would be taking over the NSF headquarters building later this year. At the time, it was not clear where NSFâs 1600 employees would be relocated. NSF will now be collocated with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which is less than a half mile away from NSFâs current location. The announcement states the move is part of the Trump Administrationâs…
Federal Agencies Reopen with Uncertainty
The 44-day government shutdown created chaos and uncertainty across federal agencies. Now that the government has reopened, federal employees are back to work but face new uncertainties about the future. Acting Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Brian Stone circulated a memo to staff outlining the agencyâs plans for resuming its activities. According to the memo, priority will be placed on processing backpay for employees and restoring NSFâs capacity to make awards. However, the memo explains that as a result of the lapse in funding, the agency will not be able to administer all of its programs as planned. The memo…