continuing resolution
Mary Woolley's Weekly Letter: Put Science to Work
By Mary Woolley on October 1, 2020
Dear Research Advocate, This morning, we sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urging them to reach a deal on an emergency spending package that includes $26B for research relief. As my colleague Ellie Dehoney said in Bloomberg, medical progress has "easily been set back a year." Unfortunately, as of this writing, the situation looks grave. Speaker Pelosi had delayed a vote on a slimmed-down version of the HEROES Act referred to as "HEROES 2.0" in the hopes of a bipartisan emergency spending agreement. Now an agreement appears unlikely. Stabilizing our nation's research ecosystem is essential to driving medical progress and innovation...
Time is running out for research relief
By Research!America on September 30, 2020
TAKE ACTION NOW! This week, the Senate is expected to pass and the President to sign a temporary "Continuing Resolution" (CR) to maintain the Fiscal Year 20 budget through December 11. Negotiations reportedly continue on an emergency spending bill to address the destructive impact of COVID-19 on individuals, small businesses, and communities across our nation. COVID-19 has also undermined U.S. priorities, including medical progress, which has been set back by the corrosive effects of the pandemic on lab productivity, clinical trials, and the education and career paths of promising young researchers. There is still time to convince Congress and the President to agree on an emergency spending...
Mary Woolley's Weekly Letter: Vote Science Strong
By Mary Woolley on September 24, 2020
Dear Research Advocate, How to Fight for the Future : Ruth Bader Ginsburg lived her life fearlessly. She refused to let the present dictate the future. Her dogged persistence in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles and her sense of civic responsibility transcended ideology. Regardless of the chain of events her death triggered, our nation would be well served by channeling Justice Ginsburg's fierce commitment to societal progress as we confront a confluence of daunting national and global challenges. So what can research advocates do? The following thoughts are suggestive, not exhaustive! Make the Case : The American Academy of Arts and Sciences will release a report next week, "...
Mary Woolley's Weekly Letter: The Clock is Winding Down
Dear Research Advocate, If you weren't able to join us for the National Health Research Forum, you can watch the recordings from the Forum platform . The popular short videos from federal officials, members of Congress, and leaders from across the research and public health ecosystem are posted on our YouTube channel , where all the recordings will soon appear. CNN, C-SPAN, and PBS (among other media outlets) covered several sessions; watch them here now: Secretary of HHS Alex M. Azar, II interviewed by Susan Dentzer Anthony Fauci, MD interviewed by Judy Woodruff ADM Brett Giroir, MD , interviewed by Sanjay Gupta, MD Robert Redfield, MD interviewed by Frank Sesno Vaccine Development: Are we...
Mary Woolley's Weekly Letter: Securing a Science-Strong Future
By Mary Woolley on September 3, 2020
Dear Research Advocate, Anticipation is building for the Research!America 2020 Virtual #RAForum: Straight Talk: Securing a Science-Strong Future , featuring federal officials, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, and other leaders from across the R&D and public health ecosystem to explore the intersection of public and private sector-driven science and pandemic response, recovery, and preparedness. An important late-breaking addition to the Forum program is HHS Secretary Alex M. Azar II, who will be in conversation with journalist and Research!America board member Susan Dentzer. We are also excited to let you know ADM Brett P. Giroir, MD, the Assistant Secretary for Health...
Mary Woolley's Weekly Letter: Fogging the Lens
By Mary Woolley on August 27, 2020
Dear Research Advocate, On (but mostly off) Capitol Hill : Neither the House nor Senate is expected to reconvene until after Labor Day. As things stand, it may be late September before a final COVID-19 emergency spending package takes shape. The longer the delay on that front, the greater the chances that a continuing resolution (CR) will be attached, flat-funding the government until after (potentially long after) the November elections. Sound the Alarm : If this no-action update sounds all-too-familiar, that's because it is. The push and pull of differing funding priorities and election-year politics are fogging the lens such that the most important consideration – the crying need for...
Mary Woolley's Weekly Letter: Inaction is the Wrong Choice
The pandemic continues to reconfigure our society and our individual lives. Our R&D ecosystem is simultaneously at the center of the COVID-19 response and placed at risk by it. What is certain during this profoundly uncertain period in our nation's history is this: inaction breeds tragedy. Inaction on Capitol Hill : Negotiations over desperately needed emergency spending legislation and FY21 appropriations are in a holding pattern. In a troubling sign, reports today surfaced that federal agencies have been told to prepare for flat funding via a CR through December. Let's face it: federal leaders are waiting to see who blinks first, even as desperation mounts and priorities like medical...
Mary Woolley's Weekly Letter: Honoring Advocacy
By Mary Woolley on October 24, 2019
Dear Research Advocate, Today, we announced several of the extraordinary leaders in medical and health research advocacy who will be honored during our 2020 Advocacy Awards Dinner. Dr. Bruce Alberts, former president of the National Academy of Sciences (among a plethora of distinctions), will receive this year's John Edward Porter Legacy Award, generously supported by Ann Lurie. Bruce is just one of the remarkable individuals who will be recognized, as highlighted in today's release . We will soon announce the recipients of the Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion and the Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy . I hope you will join us on March 11, 2020, to...
Mary Woolley's Weekly Letter: #CRsStopProgress
Dear Research Advocate, Congress has five weeks to reach an agreement on full-year FY20 funding levels before the current stop-gap continuing resolution (CR) expires on November 21, 2019. House spending leaders sent their Senate counterparts new totals for the 12 annual appropriations bills, but word is, negotiations on those topline amounts are far from over and concerns are mounting that Congress could resort to another short-term CR. CRs are the enemy of medical and public health progress: consider the recent NIH-supported finding that the artificial pancreas system controls blood glucose levels better than current technology in patients with Type 1 diabetes or promising results in...
Mary Woolley's Weekly Letter: Not a moment too soon
Dear Research Advocate, As part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's launch of Civics Forward , CEO Thomas Donahue challenged the business community to play a leading role in civic education, for no less a reason than assuring the future of our nation. This challenge is reminiscent of his call to the science community last February at the AAAS meeting to do more with the business community, in order to achieve shared aspirations. As he said at the time, "without science there is no innovation, and without innovation, there is no industry," going on to emphasize the enduring value the business community accords to science. There is no question that heightened attention to civic education and...
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