Biophysical Society Bulletin | July/August 2021

Public Affairs

President Biden Releases Budget Proposals for FY22 In early June, the full proposed Presidential Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) was released and shows significant increases for many departments and agencies. The Public Affairs Committee specifically monitors the funding levels for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) and advocates for increases to fund basic and biomedical research. The proposed budget for NIH for FY22 is $51 billion, a $9 billion increase over FY21. Included in the overall increase is $6.5 billion to establish ARPA-H, which will focus on cutting-edge research with an initial focus on cancer and other diseases such as diabe- tes and Alzheimer’s disease. This major investment in federal research and development would drive transformational innova- tion in health research and speed application and implementation of health breakthroughs. NSF is looking at a proposed budget of $10.2 billion, a $1.7 billion increase over FY21. The proposed funding includes a focus on enhanced fundamental research and development. The discretionary request provides $9.4 billion, an increase of $1.6 billion above the 2021 enacted level, to support research across the spectrum of science, engineering, and technology.

Understanding Appropriations Terminology: Budget Resolutions vs. Deeming Resolutions In the United States legislative branch of government, the term “budget resolution” indicates an agreement between the two houses of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, on a budgetary plan for the upcoming fiscal year. Once agreed upon by both chambers in the exact same form, the budget resolution creates parameters that may be enforced by points of order and using the budget reconcilia- tion process. When the House and Senate do not reach final agreement on this plan, it may be more difficult for Congress to reach agreement on subsequent budgetary legislation, both within each chamber and between the chambers. In the absence of agreement on a budget resolution, Congress may employ alternative legislative tools to serve as a substitute for a budget resolution. These substitutes are typically referred to as “deeming resolutions,” because they are deemed to serve

in place of an annual budget resolution for the purposes of establishing enforceable budget levels for the upcoming fiscal year. Since the creation of the budget resolution, there have been 11 years in which Congress did not come to agreement on a budget resolution. In each of those years, one or both cham- bers employed at least one deeming resolution to serve as a substitute for a budget resolution. While referred to as “deeming resolutions,” such mechanisms are not formally defined and have no specifically prescribed content. Instead, they represent the House and Senate, often separately, en- gaging legislative procedures to deal with enforcement issues on an ad hoc basis. The mechanisms can vary significantly in content and timing. Eric Lander Confirmed toWhite House Top Science Spot At the close of May, the US Senate confirmed mathematician and geneticist Eric Lander as Director of the White House Of- fice of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Lander will also

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