AAU Update

June 4, 2014   

To:                  Council on Federal Relations

From:              AAU Staff

Subject:           CFR UPDATE (14-No. 22, 06-04-14) 

·       Senate C-J-S Subcommittee Approves FY15 Funding bill 

·       Senate Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee to Mark Up FY15 Funding Bill on June 10

·       AAAS-AAU-APLU-FBI Group Publishes Report on Personnel Issues in Biosecurity 

SENATE C-J-S SUBCOMMITTEE APPROVES FY 15 FUNDING BILL 

The Senate Commerce-Justice-Science (C-J-S) Appropriations Subcommittee on June 3 approved its FY15 funding bill. At $51.2 billion, the bill reflects a reduction of $398 million from the FY14 level and equals the House-passed level. 

Within that total, the bill provides $7.2 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF). That is $83 million above the FY14 funding level, equal to the President’s FY15 request, and $200 million below the House-passed FY15 level. 

For NASA, the Senate bill provides $17.9 billion, which is $254 million above the FY14 level, $439 million above the President’s FY15 request, and the same as the House-approved level. 

More details, including specific funding levels within NSF and NASA, are expected to be available following the full Senate Appropriations Committee markup tomorrow, June 5. 

SENATE LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION SUBCOMMITTEE TO MARK UP FY15 FUNDING BILL ON JUNE 10

The Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee has announced that it will mark up its FY15 funding bill on Tuesday, June 10, at 2:30 p.m. in SD-124 Dirksen Building. The markup will be webcast live at http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/.

AAAS-AAU-APLU-FBI GROUP PUBLISHES REPORT ON PERSONNEL ISSUES IN BIOSECURITY

A group of FBI and association representatives that have been working together on biosecurity issues has published the report from the last of its five workshops, this one on personnel issues in biosecurity.  Previous reports dealt with security risks of biological research in academia (2010), dual use review and oversight (2012), implementing select agent and toxin regulations (2013), and international science and security (2013).

The project, “Bridging Science and Security for Biological Research,” was initiated four years ago by the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate (WMD). Working with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in collaboration with AAU and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the WMD Directorate held a series of five workshops with the research, policy, and security communities to discuss outreach and policy issues in biosecurity.  The goal was to share and summarize in a series of reports the lessons learned, challenges faced, and areas for improvement in local and national biosecurity initiatives. 

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