AAU WEEKLY WRAP-UP
September 5, 2014
CONTENTS
BUDGET, APPROPRIATIONS, AND TAX ISSUES
Congress Expected to Approve a Short-term FY15 Continuing Resolution NEW
CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES
Higher Education Groups Weigh in on Proposed HEA Teacher Preparation Provisions
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
COFAR Releases Latest Guidance on New Circular on Federal Grant Awards
OTHER
Golden Goose Awardees Discovered Benefits of Massage to Rat Pups - and
to Premature Babies NEW
BUDGET, APPROPRIATIONS, AND TAX ISSUES
CONGRESS EXPECTED TO APPROVE A SHORT-TERM FY15 CONTINUING RESOLUTION NEW
Congress returns to session on Monday, September 8, following a
five-week recess. The most important order of business will be
approval of a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to fund the
government when Fiscal Year 2015 begins on
October 1. A CR is needed
because Congress has not enacted any of the 12 FY 2015 appropriations
bills.
Although many Members may try to add special spending and
authorization provisions to the CR, House Republican leaders are
expected to try to keep the CR as free of amendments as possible,
reports CQ.com. Along with sustaining federal program funding largely
at FY14 levels, says the publication, leaders may use the CR as a
vehicle for a short-term reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, as
well as additional funding for wildfire prevention programs and
possibly for military action against the Islamic State terrorist
group.
CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES
HIGHER EDUCATION GROUPS WEIGH IN ON PROPOSED HEA TEACHER PREPARATION PROVISIONS
A task force of higher education associations, including AAU, on
August 29 submitted comments to Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of
the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee,
regarding the teacher preparation provisions of his draft Higher
Education Act (HEA) reauthorization bill.
The letter notes that while members of the task force share the
Chairman’s goal of strengthening teacher preparation programs, they
are concerned that some provisions reflect contradictory approaches
and would not necessarily improve outcomes for teacher candidates.
The Task Force on Teacher Preparation is a group of 10 higher
education associations that is convened by the American Association of
Colleges for Teacher Education; it represents the broad spectrum of
teacher preparation providers around the country.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
COFAR RELEASES LATEST GUIDANCE ON NEW CIRCULAR ON FEDERAL GRANT AWARDS
The White House Council on Financial Assistance Reform (COFAR) on
August 29 released its second set of frequently asked questions (FAQs)
on implementation of the uniform administrative requirements, cost
principles, and audit requirements for federal awards.
The new FAQ document helps to resolve some of the research community’s
outstanding concerns about the uniform guidance and its
implementation, but some questions and concerns remain. AAU is working
closely with the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) to provide a
detailed analysis of the FAQ explanations in the next few of weeks.
OTHER
Golden Goose Awardees Discovered Benefits of Massage to Rat Pups - and
to Premature Babies NEW
Four scientists, whose research led from discovering the benefits of
massage for rat pups to a standard treatment that helps millions of
premature babies survive and thrive, will be honored with Golden Goose
Awards, the award founders announced on September 4. They will join
previously announced 2014 honorees to receive their statuettes at a
ceremony on
September 18 at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
The Golden Goose Award honors scientists whose federally funded
research may have seemed odd or to have no significant practical
applications at the time it was conducted but has resulted in major
economic or other benefits to society. In this case, the impact of the
researchers’ collective work has been momentous. The key discovery –
that touch, in the form of infant massage, can vastly improve the
outcome for babies born prematurely – has affected millions of lives
around the world and saved billions of dollars in healthcare costs in
the United States alone.
The other 2014 awardees, announced earlier this year, are Larry Smarr,
whose basic research on colliding black holes in space led to the
development of U.S. supercomputing capabilities and the creation of
the first Internet browsers, and Robert Wilson, Paul Milgrom and R.
Preston McAfee, whose basic research on game theory and auctions led
to the first auctioning of the spectrum by the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) in 1994 and the subsequent rapid advance of the
global telecommunications industry.
The Golden Goose Award was first proposed by Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN)
when the late Senator William Proxmire (D-WI) was issuing the Golden
Fleece Award to highlight wasteful federal spending but often targeted
peer-reviewed science because it sounded odd. Rep. Cooper believed
such an award was needed to counter the false impression that
odd-sounding research was not useful.
In 2012, a coalition of business, university, and scientific
organizations, including AAU, created the Golden Goose Award. Like the
bipartisan group of Members of Congress who support the award, the
founding organizations believe that federally funded basic scientific
research is the cornerstone of American innovation and essential to
our economic growth, health, global competitiveness, and national
security. Award recipients are selected by a panel of respected
scientists and university research leaders.
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