Biophysical Society Bulletin | September 2021

Public Affairs

Proposed Elimination of Student Visa “Duration of Stay” RegulationWithdrawn On July 6, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially withdrew its proposed rule to eliminate duration of status (D/S) for F students and their dependents, J exchange visitors and their dependents, and I media representatives. The Trump Administration wreaked havoc on immigration and visa policies, several of which had a disproportionate impact on the STEM community. One such proposed rule, issued in September of 2020, proposed to eliminate duration of status (D/S) for F students and their dependents, J exchange visitors and their dependents, and I media representatives. Under the original proposed rule issued September 2020, individuals applying for admission in either F or J status (F-1 students, F-2 dependents, J-1 exchange visitors, and J-2 dependents) would have been admitted only until the program end date noted in their Form I-20 or DS-2019, not to exceed 4 years. Some countries and courses of study were subject to a more limited 2-year admission. Individuals who needed time beyond their period of admission would have had to timely file a complete extension of stay appli- cation with USCIS before their prior admission expired. The Biophysical Society submitted comments during the 30-day comment period objecting to these changes as they put a dis- proportionate burden on STEM students studying for a PhD or MD degree; a point readily acknowledged in the proposed rule. DHS received more than 32,000 comments during the public comment period, 99% of which were in opposition to the proposed rule.

House and Senate Lay Out Competing Plans for NSF Funding and Visions for “Have-Not” States In June, the U.S. Senate approved legislation that would de- vote 20% of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) overall budget to the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), which serves 25 states and the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. If enacted, it would immediately boost EPSCoR’s spending 10-fold to approximately $2 billion per year. Researchers concerned that the Senate bill devotes so much immediate funding to the EP- SCoR program favor a proposal by the U.S. House of Repre- sentatives that envisions the creation of two new competitive programs, authorized for $150 billion and $100 billion, to achieve the goals of EPSCor without being limited to insti- tutions in EPSCor states. One program would build research capacity at any institution outside the top 100 recipients of

federal research dollars, and a second would support schools that educate large numbers of minority students. Instead of using state boundaries to define “have-not” institutions, the new programs target any school that lacks the capacity to compete successfully for NSF dollars. The Senate’s proposal (S. 1260) to massively expand EPSCoR at NSF calls for more than doubling NSF’s budget over 5 years, to $21.3 billion in 2026. And it would create a technology directorate to accelerate the commercialization of NSF-funded research in 10 areas deemed essential for keeping up with China and other nations. The bill would make EPSCoR the biggest single program at NSF, requiring it to receive 20% of the agency’s overall budget each year and 20% of the budget of the new technology directorate. That means EPSCoR’s bud- get would balloon to $2.16 billion in 2022, should Congress provide NSF with the $10.8 billion authorized in the bill, and would reach a staggering $4.3 billion by 2026. The bill contains a similar mushrooming of the tiny EPSCoR program at the Department of Energy. It would require the agency to spend 20% of the $17 billion authorized by the bill for research over the next 5 years on what is now a $25 million per year pro- gram nestled within the department’s Office of Science.

September 2021

4

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