Biophysical Society Bulletin | February 2023

Public Affairs

Postdocs Ratify Deal with University of California Postdoctoral researchers and non–tenure-track staff scientists in the University of California system ended their nearly month long strike on December 9 after voting to ratify new contracts. The terms guarantee that postdocs’ minimum salary will rise to $71,490 by October 2026. The pact also improves benefits such as family leave and childcare subsidies. Staff scientists would receive raises of up to 4.5% each year over the contract’s five-year term.

UC Graduate Students Follow Suit and Ratify Labor Agreement At the end of December, just over six weeks into a strike that disrupted University of California (UC) campuses, the unions representing graduate student teaching assistants and researchers ratified an agreement with university administra tors. The deal provides graduate students a minimum stipend of $34,000 by October 2024—a raise of $13,000 for some students but a far cry from the $54,000 the union was asking for at the outset of the strike. The agreement also includes other benefits such as fee waivers, childcare reimbursements for student parents, eight weeks of family leave, and transit passes. Teaching assistants and other academic workers at UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Santa Barbara overwhelm ingly rejected the proposed contract, while majorities at the UC system’s other campuses voted to approve it. Opponents contend the wage gains offered under the contract were insufficient to address the burdensome housing costs that workers contend with in order to live near a UC campus. They also strongly opposed a provision in the agreement that offered higher wages to academic student employees at UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, and UCLA, compared with those offered for the employees at other campuses. The union will be well positioned to keep pushing for additional improve ments when it comes time to renegotiate in a couple of years.

Congress Closes 2022 with a Budget and Starts 2023 with Disorder in the House On December 29, President Joe Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (H.R. 2617) into law, which includes $1.7 trillion in fiscal year 2023 (FY23) discretionary govern ment funding for all 12 annual spending bills. The omnibus bill provides a total of $47.5 billion for the National Institutes of Health, an increase of $2.5 billion (5.6%) above the FY22 enacted level. The National Science Foundation received a total of $9.9 billion, an increase of $1.0 billion (12%) above FY22, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) received $1.5 billion, a $500 million increase over 2022 spending levels. Following the November elections in which the Republicans narrowly reclaimed the majority in the House of Represen tatives, the path ahead was always going to be contentious between the House and the Democratically controlled Senate and White House. However, no one was prepared for the spectacle to come in January over what is normally a pro-for ma vote for the Speaker’s gavel. Upending a century of prec edent, it took no fewer than 15 votes to elect Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The House then passed an extensive rules package, which will govern the decorum and operations of the House for the next two years. While negotiations for vote support are common, McCarthy made unprecedented concessions to become Speaker of the House. Most notably, promises were made to cut FY24 spending levels, with House GOP leadership agreeing to keep

February 2023

6

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E B I O P H Y S I C A L S O C I E T Y