Biophysical Society Bulletin | December 2019

Public Affairs

Biomedical Expansion Act of 2019 Introduced In October, Representatives Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Mike Levin (D-CA), and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) introduced the Biomedical Innovation Expansion Act of 2019 (HR 4667). The bill would invest $10 billion through 2030 in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including support for research on antibiotic resistance, rare diseases, and activities that are part of the NIH Innovation Fund created by the 21 st Century Cures Act.

President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Announced President Donald Trump signed an executive order on October 22, 2019, establishing the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) after more than two-and-a- half years into his administration. The PCAST, first established in 2001, is a presidential advisory council composed of science and technology leaders from the private sector and academic communities who advise the President on science, technology, and innovation topics critical to the country’s security and economy, as well as public health and welfare. The council will be chaired by Kelvin K. Droegemeier , Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, with Edward McGinnis , Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, serving as the PCAST Executive Director. In addition to the Chair, PCAST will eventually include 16 members. The first group of seven includes six industry officials and one representative from academia; additional representatives from academia will be named “in the near future.” The academic representative on the panel is Birgitta Whaley , Director of the Quantum Information & Computa- tion Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Panel members selected from industry include Catherine Bessant , Chief Technology Officer for Bank of America; H. Fisk Johnson , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.; Dario Gil , Director of Research at IBM; Sharon Hrynkow , Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs at Cyclo Therapeutics; A.N. Sreeram , Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Dow Chemical; and Shane Wall , Chief Technology Officer and Global Head of HP Labs, HP Inc.

Scientific Integrity Bill Advances in House

The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology voted 25–6 to advance the Scientific Integrity Act to the House floor on October 17, 2019. The legislation (HR 1709), which was approved by the panel with bipartisan support, would require federal agencies that fund, conduct, or oversee scientific research to adopt and enforce clear scientific integrity policies. The bill would prohibit the government from suppressing agency scientific research and intimidating or coercing individuals to alter or censor scientific findings. While the bill did not have any Republican cosponsors origi- nally, it won bipartisan approval after an amendment deleted provisions that would have allowed government scientists to respond to media interview requests without getting prior agency approval. The amendment allows agencies and administrations to determine their own media policies. The legislation, which currently has 229 cosponsors, must now pass the full House as well as the Senate, where companion legislation has been introduced by Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI). Republican support for the bill in the House is expected to improve its prospects in the Senate. Connect with BPS

December 2019

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