January 10, 2010
In this issue:
Previous Updates
Currently in Washington
Representatives returned to Washington this week to kickoff the 2nd Session of the 111th Congress with votes on HR 2646—a measure to expand the comptroller general’s oversight authority. Starting Thursday House Democrats will convene for their annual retreat to discuss their legislative agenda for 2010 where health care reform bill, climate change, and the 2010 midterm elections are all likely to figure prominently into the discussion.
Today President Obama also met with House and Senate Democratic leaders to push for an endgame in negotiations of a heath care compromise. Conference negotiations are expected to take several weeks as House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) stated Tuesday that “serious problems” remained in resolving the differences between the House and Senate version. One of the largest discrepancies remains how the bill will be paid for; the Senate and the White House continue to advocate for a tax on premium, “Cadillac” insurance plans, whereas the House is pressing for a tax on wealthy individuals. The final package is likely to remain a partisan bill after no Republican Senator and only one Republican voted for the bill in the house.
The spring agenda also includes a jobs bill, a financial regulatory measure, immigration reform, final passage of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), and climate change. The upcoming midterm elections and a lukewarm response from last month’s Copenhagen talks have led some to conclude that climate change legislation is too big a task to complete this year, but Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry insists that progress is being made at reaching the 60 vote threshold needed to pass the legislation. How Senate Leadership chooses to tackle their list of priorities remains to be seen when the Senate returns for legislative business next week.
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Top Stories
Appropriations
Congress finally wrapped up Fiscal Year 2010 Appropriations at the end of the year by consolidating the remaining bills (Transportation/Housing and Urban Development, Commerce/Justice/Science, Financial Services, Labor/HHS, Military Construction/Veterans Affairs, and State/Foreign Ops). Additionally, the Senate passed Defense Appropriations separately. Total Spending on disclosed appropriations requests was down by almost a third from $14.3 billion in 2009 to $10.2 billion. Despite these numbers, UT System Office of Federal Relations (OFR) was able to secure almost $41 million through appropriations requests it submitted on behalf of its campuses. Below is a list of UT appropriations requests that were approved through the FY10 Appropriations process.
- UT Arlington – CREST: Center for Renewable Energy Science and Technology – Department of Energy - $1,000,000
- UT Arlington – The Development of a Smart MicroGrid Testbed – Department of Energy - $500,000
- UT Arlington – SmartCare – Department of Health and Human Services - $650,000
- UT Arlington – Texas Microfactory – Department of Defense - $1,600,000
- UT Austin/Dallas/Sandia – National Initiative for Applications of Multifunctional Materials – Department of Defense - $2,000,000
- UT Austin – Next Generation Manufacturing Processes and Systems – Department of Defense - $1,200,000
- UT Austin/Brownsville/Pan American/Dallas/Arlington/Rice/University of Houston/Air Force – The Consortium for Nanomaterials for Aerospace Commerce and Technology (CONTACT) – Department of Defense - $3,200,000
- UT Austin – Sam Rayburn Library and Museum – Institute of Museum and Library Services - $250,000
- UT Brownsville – Lower Rio Grande Valley Nursing and Allied Health Professionals Workforce development – Department of Health and Human Services - $500,000
- UT Brownsville – International Trading Center - Small Business Administration - $150,000
- UT Dallas – Center for Brain Health - Department of Health and Human Services - $350,000
- UT Dallas/Tyler – Center for Energy Storage Research – Department of Energy - $1,000,000
- UT El Paso – Center for Defense Systems Research – Department of Defense - $2,400,000
- UT El Paso/Stephen F. Austin University – Regional Geospatial Service Center – Department of Defense - $2,000,000
- UT El Paso – Southwest Consortium for Environmental Research and Policy – Environmental Protection Agency - $1,000,000
- UT El Paso – Open Source Lab for Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysis on Latin America – Department of Justice - $400,000
- UT Pan American – South Texas Border Health Disparities Center – Department of Health and Human Services - $250,000
- UT Permian Basin – HT3R – Department of Defense - $800,000
- UT San Antonio – Community Cyber Security Maturity Model Development – Department of Homeland Security - $3,500,000
- UT Tyler – Texas Cyber Security Research and Training Institute (TxCSRT) – Department of Justice - $529,000
- UT Tyler – Organic Semiconductor Modeling and Simulation – Department of Defense - $880.000
- UT Tyler – Keeping America Competitive: Consortium for STEM Prep – Department of Education - $300,000
- UT Health Science Center Houston – Center for Translational Neuroinformatics (CTNI) – Department of Health and Human Services - $100,000
- UT Health Science Center Houston – Medical Bank – Department of Health and Human Services - $150,000
- UT Health Science Center Houston/MD Anderson/UT Medical Branch/Rice/Baylor/Houston/ Texas A&M/Methodist Hospital – Alliance for NanoHealth – Department of Defense - $4,000,000
- UT Health Science Center San Antonio – Neurodegeneration and Cognitive Dysfunction Center (NCDC) – Department of Health and Human Services - $270,000
- UT Health Science Center San Antonio – Center for Innovation in Prevention and Treatment of Airway Diseases (CIPTAD) – Department of Health and Human Services - $150,000
- UT Health Science Center San Antonio – Institute for Cardiovascular Systems Biology (ICSB) – Department of Health and Human Services - $300,000
- UT Health Science Center Tyler – Texas Lung Injury Institute – Department of Health and Human Services - $300,000
- UT MD Anderson – Center for Cancer Immunology Research – Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense - $2,600,000
- UT MD Anderson – Center for Research on Minority Health – Department of Health and Human Services - $500,000
- UT MD Anderson – Center for Research on Minority Health (Prostate Cancer Outreach) – Department of Defense - $800,000
- UT Medical Branch – National Biodefense Training Center – Department of Defense - $5,000,000
- UT Southwestern – Nanotechnology in Cellular Therapies – Department of Defense - $1,600,000
OFR is already gearing up for FY11 requests at deadlines for individual offices will be approaching in February and March. Campuses have submitted their requests to OFR to be evaluated and eventually presented to Members of Congress.
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Health Care
Both chambers of Congress have started to battle out the details of the two difference versions passed by the Senate and House at end of last year. Many in the Senate have suggested that the House version will need to look more like the Senate version to ensure passage as the Senate needed every one of its 60 votes for passage as House Members have stated that they will not rubber-stamp the Senate version. Democratic leaders have decided to forgo the traditional conference committee which would allow Republicans an opportunity to slow down the legislation. Instead, Democratic leaders will hold continuous meetings to iron out differences.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, Ways and Means Committee, and Education and Labor Committee have released a document detailing important similarities and differences contained in the two versions. Click here to view the document.
Furthermore, the American Hospital Association has put together a side-by-side comparison of the two bills which you can view here.
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Higher Education
FAFSA Changes
The Department of Education has started to implement some new improvements to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Form where now students can have FAFSA officials retrieve IRS information instead of having to input income and other financial information. Other changes include elimination of repetitive questions, a streamlined web site, and simplification of question-and-answer sections.
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College Work-Study and Education Jobs Fund
The House passed a “mini-stimulus” called the Jobs for Main Street Act on December 16, 2009 which redirects $75 billion unused Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds to finance infrastructure and job investments. $23 billion was included or an Education Jobs Fund that would help states create education jobs. 95% of funds would be allocated by states to school districts and public institutions of higher education. These monies would be used to maintain jobs or create new ones that provide educational services and also to modernize, renovate, and repair public education facilities. The remaining 5% would be used for state education jobs and administration of the program. The legislation included $300 million for the College Work Study program to support lower and middle income students. The Senate has yet to act.
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Higher Education Act Site Visits
The House passed a “mini-stimulus” called the Jobs for Main Street Act on December 16, 2009 which redirects $75 billion unused Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds to finance infrastructure and job investments. $23 billion was included or an Education Jobs Fund that would help states create education jobs. 95% of funds would be allocated by states to school districts and public institutions of higher education. These monies would be used to maintain jobs or create new ones that provide educational services and also to modernize, renovate, and repair public education facilities. The remaining 5% would be used for state education jobs and administration of the program. The legislation included $300 million for the College Work Study program to support lower and middle income students. The Senate has yet to act.
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Science & Technology
ARPA-E Energy Summit
The U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy ) has announced it will host an Energy Innovation Summit in Washington, DC, March 1-3. The program includes workshops focused on helping researchers, entrepreneurs and technology agents gain strategic insights into the ARPA-E agency. Participants will be briefed about existing and future program priorities learn the key criteria used in evaluating proposals, meet and ask question directly to ARPA-E program managers, interact with DOE lawyers about IP protection, and gain insight into energy commercialization. The conference will also feature an Energy Technology Innovation Showcase, highlighting the recent ARPA-E award winners and finalists.
Those interested in participating may click here to register for the event.
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DARPA Research Announcement
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has released a research announcement (RA) through grants.gov soliciting applicants for their young faculty award (YFA) program. This RA solicits single investigator proposals from junior faculty for research and development in the areas of the Physical Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics of interest to DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office (DSO) and Microsystems Technology Office (MTO), and Social Sciences of interest to DARPA’s Transformational Convergence Technology Office (TCTO).
Click here to view the announcement.
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FOA on Energy Hubs
Over the winter holiday, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu outlined the Department’s plan to invest up to $366 million to establish and operate three new Energy Innovation Hubs focused on accelerating research and development in three key energy areas. The hubs are designed to address topic areas that present the most critical barriers to achieving national energy and climate goals. The first three Energy Innovation Hubs will explore Fuels from Sunlight; Energy Efficient Building Systems Design; and Modeling and Simulation for Nuclear Reactors.
The Fuels from Sunlight Hub is the first to issue an FOA and can be found on FedConnect using the reference number DE-FOA-000021. This FOA is open until March 2010 and awards are expected to be announced in August 2010.
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Defense Science Board Appointments
On January 5 the Department of Defense announced the appointment of 37 new members of the Defense Science Board and 12 DSB senior fellows. The Defense Science Board is a federal advisory board that provides DOD senior leadership with advice and opinion on scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisitions process, and other matters of special interest.
Click here to view the list of new appointees.
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Federal Panel Issues Recommendations on Biosecurity
Early this week the Working Group on Strengthening the Biosecurity of the United States issued a report that recommends new security measures for researchers who handle the world’s deadliest pathogens. The report was ordered by President George W. Bush after the FBI concluded an Army scientist was behind the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people. The report also includes recommendations for greater scrutiny of foreign nationals who work in U.S. labs and more frequent personnel security risk assessments.
The report follows legislation introduced last month by Senator Lieberman to restructure how deadly pathogens are classified and handles at federal laboratories.
Click here to read the report.
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Recently introduced legislation
For a listing of recent legislation sponsored by members of the Texas delegation, visit the Recent Legislation page of our Web Site.
To view Roll Call votes recently passed legislation, click here: (House, Senate)
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