Week in Review, or Picking on Peer Review

April 29th 2013  |  Week in Review

As the impacts of sequestration continue to emerge, mounting airport delays due to the across-the-board spending cuts spurred Congress into action last week. The Senate and House both passed bills (S.853/H.R. 1765) which would give the Department of Transportation additional flexibility to move funding between accounts and restore some of the furloughs (days off without [...]

Week in Review, or Micromanaging Research Budgets

April 22nd 2013  |  Week in Review

Amidst the tragedies in Boston and Texas this last week, Congress debated gun safety, immigration, and whether the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) should have to certify all NSF research grants as “in the national interest.” Regarding the FY 2014 budget, new information emerged this week about the President’s budget request, including the [...]

Week in Review, or FY 2014 Budget - The Sequel

April 15th 2013  |  Week in Review

On Wednesday April 10th, the President delivered his FY 2014 budget request to Congress. You may recall that this delivery normally takes place the first week of February, but has been delayed this year due to uncertainties surrounding the “fiscal cliff” deal and sequestration, the across-the-board spending cuts that kicked in back on March 1st. [...]

Week in Review, or Tackling the Budget

April 8th 2013  |  Week in Review

Welcome back after what we hope has been a lovely break. The cold is finally departing and we’re looking forward to a bit of spring here inside the beltway. As reported in our last edition, both Houses of Congress agreed on a (hybrid) spending bill for FY 2013. The President signed the spending bill (H.R. [...]

Week in Review, or Moving Forward with FY 2013

March 25th 2013  |  Week in Review

We will be taking a cue from Congress and enjoying a recess of our own over the next two weeks. Follow NSP on Twitter (@NEWSciPol), and keep an eye out for the next Week in Review on April 8th. After what has been a very busy few weeks with members of Congress and the President [...]

Week in Review, or Hope Floats for FY 2014

March 11th 2013  |  Week in Review

On Saturday, the President made his weekly address calling for an end to sequestration and throughout the week more information continued to bubble to the surface about the impact of sequester at, for instance, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Washington Highlights offers an overview [...]

Week in Review, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sequester

February 25th 2013  |  Week in Review

From all indications last week, Congress will not act to postpone the sequester currently on schedule to go into effect in less than 100 hours on March 1st. Instead, members seem to be hedging bets on the constituent response to what has been called on both sides of the aisle a “poison pill”. The strategy [...]

Week in Review, or Super Bowl Surprise

February 4th 2013  |  Week in Review

Fans and players enjoying the Super Bowl last night were caught by surprise early in the third quarter when half of the electricity in the New Orleans Superdome went out. While waiting for the power to come power back on, I had my eye on Twitter, which was flooded almost immediately with tweets about improving [...]

Week in Review, or Setting the Stage for 2013

January 28th 2013  |  Week in Review

Last week, as Washington experienced freezing temperatures and an inaugural hangover, the House managed to pass legislation (H.R. 325) to suspend the debt ceiling until May 18th, which the Senate is expected to approve and the White House is expected to sign. While this action could postpone at least one pressing issue for Congress this [...]

Week in Review, or Science and the Second Term

January 22nd 2013  |  Week in Review

Hundreds of thousands of people descended on DC yesterday to celebrate President Obama’s second inauguration. Not surprisingly, science and research featured prominently in the President’s inaugural speech at the Capitol - firstly regarding climate change, saying “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires [...]