ESA Policy News May 20: America COMPETES reauthorization set for House floor vote, ESA GSPA winners visit Capitol Hill, NSF report analyzes STEM workforce

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. 

SCIENCE: AMERICA COMPETES REAUTHORIZATION BILL HITS HOUSE FLOOR

This week, the US House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 1806, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2015.

The bill reauthorizes funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, the Department of Energy Office of Science and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for Fiscal Years 2016 and 2017. The Ecological Society of America was among many scientific and education societies who issued action alerts to membership calling for scientists to express concern with the bill.

The original America COMPETES Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-69) was a strongly bipartisan measure passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress and signed by a Republican president. It contained significant increases for federal science agencies. The 2007 bill and its 2010 reauthorization (P.L. 111-358) received strong support from the scientific community.

In contrast, the 2015 bill is expected to pass the House largely along partisan lines and includes only mild increases for the federal agencies authorized in the bill. These increases also come at the cost of targeted cuts to the DOE Biological and Environmental Research Office and the NSF directorates for the social, behavioral, and economic sciences and the geosciences.

The White House also issued a Statement of Administration Policy declaring that the president would veto the bill. Read the statement here.

Click here to read NSF’s Impact Statement about the bill’s consequences to the research community.

Click here to read ESA’s letter.

APPROPRIATIONS: HOUSE COMMITTEE RELEASES FY 2016 CJS FUNDING BILL

On May 13, the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee unveiled its Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 funding bill.

The bill includes funding for the Department of Justice, Department of Commerce and several key federal science agencies for the coming fiscal year that starts October 1, 2015. In total, the bill includes $51.4 billion in discretionary spending in FY 2016, a $1.3 billion increase over the FY 2015 enacted level.

The bill includes $7.4 billion for the National Science Foundation; a $50 million increase over the FY 2015 enacted funding level, but $300 million less than the president’s request for FY 2016. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would receive $5.2 billion, $274 million below the FY 2015 enacted level.  The National Aeronautic and Space Administration would receive $18.5 billion in FY 2015, a $519 million increase over FY 2015. Science programs at the agency would decrease by $7 million compared to the FY 2015 enacted level.

Additional information on the bill is available here.

APPROPRIATIONS: SENATE COMMITTEE RELEASES FY 2016 ENERGY AND WATER FUNDING BILL

On May 19, the Senate released its Energy and Water Appropriations bill for FY 2016. The bill provides $35.4 billion in funding for the US Department of Energy (DOE), the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Department of Interior’s (DOI) major water office, and the Bureau of Reclamation.

The final bill was crafted with bipartisan support from Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Diane Feinstein (D-CA).

Overall the measure provides the agencies under its jurisdiction with $1.2 billion more than the enacted level FY 2015, though $633 million less than the president’s FY 2016 budget request. The total funding a similar to the total funding included in the House bill, but the Senate bill allocates the funding among the federal agencies differently.

The bill notably does not include provisions to restrict the administration’s effort to clarify federal agency jurisdiction over US waterways as the recently passed House bill does, though Republicans are expected to attempt to amend the bill with the language either when it passes the full committee or on the Senate floor.

Click here for additional information on the Senate bill. For additional information on the House bill, see the April 29 edition of ESA policy news.

WHITE HOUSE: NEW REPORT EMPHASIZES GLOBAL SECURITY RISKS FROM CLIMATE CHANGE

In concert with a recent presidential commencement address to the US Coast Guard, the White House has released a new report highlighting the national and international security threats posed by posed by climate change.

The report compiles information from recent federal agency reports on climate change impacts, including the US Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Homeland Security and the National Intelligence Council. DOD is assessing the vulnerability of the military’s more than 7,000 bases, installations and other facilities to climate change, and studying the implications of increased demand for our National Guard in the aftermath of extreme weather events.

The report also focuses on climate changes effects that may increase of refugee flows around the globe spurred by food and natural resource scarcity and the national security implications of increasing human activity in the Arctic.

Click here for additional information.

WHITE HOUSE: POLLINATOR TASK FORCE STRATEGY REPORT RELEASED

On May 19, under the leadership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the White House announced its Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. The strategy is supported by a science-based Pollinator Research Action Plan. The USDA and the Department of Interior also issued a set of Pollinator-Friendly Best Management Practices for Federal Lands, providing practical guidance for planners and managers with land stewardship responsibilities.

The White House reports that number of managed honeybee colonies in the US has dropped from 5.7 million in the 1940s to 2.74 million today. In addition to addressing honeybee colony collapse, the new strategy will seek to increase the eastern population of the monarch butterfly and restore seven million acres of pollinator land through federal actions and public-private partnerships.

Click here for additional information.

POLICY ENGAGEMENT: ECOLOGISTS AND BIOLOGISTS ADVOCATE FOR SCIENCE INVESTMENT ON CAPITOL HILL

On May 14, ecologists and biologists from across the US fanned out across Capitol Hill, visiting 54 congressional offices to support President Obama’s request of $7.7 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF). They highlighted how federal investment in scientific research benefits the communities the lawmakers represent.

The Biological Ecological Sciences Coalition (BESC) event is organized each year by the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS). BESC draws participation from Ph.D. scientists and graduate students affiliated with the two organizations. This year’s participants included 2015 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award winners Sydney Blankers (University of Illinois-Chicago), Cleo Chou (Princeton University), Natalie Hambalek (Oregon State University), and Emlyn Resetarits (University of Texas-Austin).

Participants in the BESC Hill visits came prepared with personal stories describing how federal funding aids their research, helps them in advancing professional development and benefits their states. While firm commitments to support science funding varied from office-to-office, the graduate students and other participants mostly received collegial receptions from Congressional staff and elected officials using local experiences to relate with the congressional staff and lawmakers.

The visits came ahead of House consideration of H.R. 1806, the America COMPETES Act, which would significantly alter how NSF prioritizes scientific research. The bill also includes targeted cuts to key areas of science, including the social, behavioral and geosciences at NSF and environmental research at the Department of Energy. Participants also encouraged lawmakers to oppose the bill.

The day before the Hill visits, the students met informally with several ESA members working in policy-related positions in federal offices: Alan Thornhill (USGS), Laura Petes (OSTP), Alexis Erwin (USAID) and Rich Pouyat (USFS). The afternoon before the visits, all BESC participants were also briefed on the federal budget process and protocols regarding meeting with congressional offices on Capitol Hill.

NSF: NEW REPORT OFFERS INSIGHT INTO THE STATE OF STEM WORKFORCE

In concert with its biennial Science and Engineering Indicators report, the National Science Foundation’s National Science Board has released a new report examining the current state of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce in the United States.

The report offered three key insights:

• The STEM “workforce” is extensive, complexly defined and critical to innovation and competitiveness
• STEM knowledge and skills offer pathways to careers to both STEM and non-STEM occupations.
• Strengthening access to and participation in the STEM workforce is critical for the US to maintain national prosperity and global competitiveness.

Click here for additional information.

FWS: PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION GRANTED ON INVASIVE CONSTRICTOR RULE

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) from banning the importation and interstate transport of two constrictor snakes by granting a preliminary injunction sought by the United States Association of Reptile Keepers (USARK). The preliminary injunction will affect FWS’s proposed ban on the reticulated python and the green anaconda.

In addition to the two aforementioned species, FWS is proposing a rule that would add the Beni anaconda and Deshauesee’s anaconda to the agency’s list of injurious species. While the preliminary injunction does not overturn the ban outright, it puts any effort by FWS to implement the ban on hold until the USARK lawsuit has been decided in court.

Click here to view the preliminary injunction.

STATE DEPARTMENT: NEW POLICY REVIEW DOCUMENT PRIORITIZES CLIMATE CHANGE

The US State Department has released a new policy blueprint that lists climate change among its four major priorities of the agency through 2020.

In its Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), the agency recommends targeted partnerships with civil society groups and local government officials in foreign nations to address climate challenges. The QDDR recommends integrating climate change mitigation and adaption efforts into all diplomatic and international development efforts.

For additional information on QDDR, click here.