Biophysical Society Bulletin | February 2019

Public Affairs

Science Coalition: 80 Percent of Voters Approve of Federal Research Spending

The Science Coalition, a non-profit, non-partisan group of universities, released a poll on December 4, 2018, that showed that 80 percent of voters approve of federal spending on scientific research. This was true across partisan preferences. However, when asked to rank their federal spending priorities,

scientific research fell behind spending on education, defense, infrastructure, welfare, and energy development. Nearly all respondents indicated that it is important for the United States to maintain its global leadership in science and technology.

Senate Health Panel Chairman Lamar Alexander Announces Retirement

Save the Date – Rally for Medical Research Hill Day!

On December 17, 2018, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced his inten- tion to not seek reelection in 2020. Sen. Alexander, 78, is the first senator whose term is up in 2020 to announce that they won’t seek reelection; he has been in the Senate since 2003. He is the current Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which maintains jurisdiction over the issues important to

We request that you save the date for the 7th Annual Rally for Medical Research Hill Day, which will take place on Septem- ber 19, 2019 . As some of you may know, the rally began in 2013 when the medical research community brought over 200 organizations and institutions together to call on our nation’s policymakers to make medical research a national priority. The Rally for Medical Research, which shut down the streets in DC with more than 10,000 people in atten- dance, raised awareness to increase investment in the NIH to improve health, spur more progress, inspire more hope, and save more lives. BPS is an annual sponsor of the event and will cover travel costs for BPS members interested in participating. To get involved, please contact Sean Winkler at swinkler@biophysics. org.

Lamar Alexander

BPS members like biomedical research and development and graduate student labor regulations. Sen. Alexander was seen as a bipartisan dealmaker that maintained channels to both Republican and Democratic leadership and follows a recent string of retirements by former GOP Chairmen.

February 2019

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