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BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
5
SEPTEMBER
2017
Public Affairs
Join the Rally for Medical
Research on September 14
On September 14,
Biophysical Society
members will join
individuals from doz-
ens of other research,
health, and patient
advocacy organizations on Capitol Hill to advo-
cate for sustained, predictable, and robust federal
funding for medical research. Over 300 people are
expected to participate in Washington. To make
sure the message is received loud and clear by all
Senate and House members, Society members are
encouraged to participate in the advocacy efforts
on September 14 by calling, tweeting, or writing
to their congressional representatives and asking
them to support funding for the National Insti-
tutes of Health. Follow along online using the
hashtag #RallyMedRes. Information on how you
can participate from home will be available on the
front page of the Biophysical Society website.
US FY 2018 Science Funding:
Where We Stand
With the US fiscal year (FY) 2018 starting in less
than a month on October 1, 2017, Congress has
the month of September to complete appropria-
tions bills and get them signed by the President
or pass a bill providing temporary funding to
keep the government running after October 1.
Congress is currently limited in how much it can
spend by the Budget Control Act of 2011. Unless
there is an agreement to raise the caps imposed by
the act, which the Society has advocated for, it will
be difficult for the House and Senate to come to
an agreement and fund the priorities of the appro-
priations committees. The chart below shows the
funding proposals for science as of August 2017.
Energy Bill Introduced in Senate
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Commit-
tee Chair
Lisa Murkowski
(R-AL) and Ranking
Member
Maria Cantwell
(D-WA) introduced the
Energy and Natural Resources Act of 2017 in late
June. This bill, S. 1460, would authorize pro-
grams at the Department of Energy, including the
Office of Science, and allow for annual 7 percent
increases in the Office’s budget over the next 5
years. The Energy Sciences Coalition, of which
the Biophysical Society is a member, released a
statement thanking Murkowski and Cantwell
for introducing the legislation and applauding
the authorized increases included in the bill. The
bill also continues the Energy Frontier Research
Centers and Energy Innovation Hubs.
The same legislation was passed by the Senate in
the last Congress, but was not considered by the
House. At this time, the House has again not
shown an interest in considering S. 1460.
Federal Funding for Science Agencies (in billions)
Agency
FY 2017
Enacted
FY 2018
President's
Request
FY 18 House
Appropriations
Bill
FY 18 Senate
Appropriations
Bill
National Institutes of Health
$34.311
$26.920
$35.400
—
National Science Foundation
$7.472
$6.650
$7.340
$7.310
Department of Energy Office of Science
$5.390
$4.473
$5.390
$5.550
NASA Science
$5.765
$5.712
$5.859
$5.572
NIST Science and Tech Laboratories
$0.690
$0.600
$0.660
$0.695
Department of Defense Basic Research
$2.276
$2,229
$2.294
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