{"id":18001,"date":"2021-04-05T18:22:54","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T18:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=18001"},"modified":"2021-04-06T15:30:14","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T15:30:14","slug":"special-policy-news-6-the-transition-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2021\/04\/05\/special-policy-news-6-the-transition-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Policy News #6: The Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this issue:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Biden Infrastructure Plan Includes Funding for Natural Infrastructure, Scientific Infrastructure<\/a><\/strong>
\n$2 trillion plan includes $50 billion to create a new technology directorate for NSF.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers Introduce Competing Proposals to Increase Science Funding<\/a><\/strong>
\nHouse Science Committee bill crease a new Science and Engineering Solutions directorate at NSF.<\/p>\n

Senate Confirms Biden\u2019s Pick for Deputy Secretary of Energy, Biden Establishes Environmental Justice Advisory Council<\/a><\/strong>
\nEnvironmental Justice Advisory Council includes prominent scholars, advocates and representatives of environmental justice communities.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/a><\/strong>
\nSens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Mazie Hirono introduce a resolution condemning anti-Asian sentiment, racism and discrimination.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/a><\/strong>
\nWhite House Office of Science and Technology Policy forms Interagency Task Force on Scientific Integrity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/a><\/strong>
\nNational Academies recommends that the U.S. start a solar geoengineering research program.<\/p>\n

Upcoming Events<\/a><\/strong>
\nThe first Nobel Prize Summit will focus on sustainability.<\/p>\n

Science Policy Opportunities<\/a><\/strong>
\nEPA seeks new members of the Scientific Advisory Board and Clean Air Advisory Committee.<\/p>\n

What We\u2019re Reading<\/a>
\n<\/strong>DOT halts Texas highway project in test of Biden\u2019s promises on race.<\/p>\n

Federal Register opportunities.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Biden Infrastructure Plan Includes Funding for Natural Infrastructure, Scientific Infrastructure<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nPresident Joe Biden unveiled a sweeping $2 trillion infrastructure plan.<\/a>\u00a0 This plan, which the administration is framing as a jobs plan, aims to improve the country\u2019s infrastructure while creating millions of jobs and positioning the U.S. to \u201cout-compete China.\u201d There is $180 billion pegged overall in the plan for investment in research and development and \u201ctechnologies of the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan includes $10 billion to establish a Civilian Climate Corps, which would put young Americans to work conserving public lands and waters and advancing environmental justice. Biden\u2019s plan calls for protecting and restoring nature-based infrastructure including forests and wetlands. The plan requests that Congress fund wildfire protection and coastal resilience projects, support climate-smart agriculture and major land and water restoration projects like those in the Everglades and the Great Lakes.<\/p>\n

Echoing the contents of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Todd Young\u2019s (R-IN) Endless Frontiers Act from the last Congress, Biden endorses investing $50 billion to create a new technology directorate in the National Science Foundation to fund research on topics like semiconductors and advanced computing, advanced communications technology, advanced energy technologies and biotechnology. Biden also calls for $40 billion for upgrading research infrastructure, with half of this funding going to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). A new climate-focused national lab will be affiliated with an HBCU.<\/p>\n

Another $35 billion goes towards climate solutions research and developing clean energy technologies and jobs. This includes launching an Advanced Research Projects Agency \u2013 Climate (ARPA-C), which will develop new methods for reducing emissions and building climate resilience. Biden vows to expand funding across the board for climate research.<\/p>\n

The plan also includes another $10 billion for R&D at HBCU and MSIs and $15 billion to create centers of excellence that serve as research incubators at HBCUs and other MSIs to provide graduate fellowships and other opportunities for underserved populations. All of these programs aim to eliminate racial and gender inequities in STEM.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, progressives, led by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) are promoting<\/a> a separate $10 trillion decade-spanning green infrastructure plan, which sets a goal of 100% zero-carbon electricity by 2035, while creating 15.5 million jobs a year.<\/p>\n

See graphic: Breaking down Biden\u2019s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan<\/a><\/p>\n

Lawmakers Introduce Competing Proposals to Increase Science Funding<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nHouse Science Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) introduced the National Science Foundation for the Future Act (H.R. 2225<\/a>). This bill creates a new Science and Engineering Solutions Directorate within NSF and authorizes funding for this directorate at $1 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2022. Lawmakers recommend increasing funding for this directorate by 50 percent each year. The directorate\u2019s budget reaches $5 billion in FY 2026.\u00a0 This total funding amount is less than the amount proposed in Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer\u2019s (D-NY) authorizing Endless Frontiers Act, from the last Congress, and soon to be reintroduced in the current Congress, that proposes creating a technology directorate within NSF, which would be funded at $34 billion by FY 2024.<\/p>\n

Another key difference between the Senate Endless Frontiers Act and the House National Science Foundation for the Future Act is that the House Science Committee bill does not name specific technology research areas. The Endless Frontiers Act emphasizes the \u201cIndustries of the Future,\u201d a term that typically refers to artificial intelligence, quantum information science, advanced manufacturing, 5G and biotechnology.<\/p>\n

The House Science Committee bill authorizes a six percent increase each year through 2026 to existing NSF programs, with the agency receiving $10.5 billion for these programs in FY 2022. The bill also provides a 50% increase for specific programs, including the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), the Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure Program and the NSF Research Traineeship Program.<\/p>\n

House Science Committee Subcommittee on Research and Technology Chairwoman Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Ranking Member Michael Waltz (R-FL) are also original co-sponsors of the National Science Foundation for the Future Act.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers direct NSF to increase the number of Graduate Research Fellowships (GRF) awarded each year to 3,000. In recent years, NSF has awarded 2,000 Graduate Research Fellowships a year. The bill also directs the GRF program to support \u201ccritical STEM fields\u201d and conduct outreach to solicit GRFP applications from underrepresented groups in STEM.<\/p>\n

Shortly before introducing the National Science for the Future Act, House Science Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) and other Republican Committee members introduced the Securing American Leadership in Science and Technology Act (H.R. 2153<\/a>, SALSTA). The bill doubles funding for basic science agencies, including the National Science Foundation, to increase U.S. competitiveness in science and technology with China and to develop clean energy technologies to reduce emissions.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Science Committee member Bill Foster (D-IL) reintroduced the American Innovation Act (S. 961<\/a> & H.R. 2140<\/a>). This bill provides annual budget increases of five percent plus inflation to NSF, the Department of Energy Office of Science and the research arms of NASA, the Department of Defense and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Senate Democrats are most likely preparing to reintroduce the Endless Frontiers Act as part of a larger legislation package (see ESA Policy News, March 22, 2021<\/a>). The version of the bill from the last Congress proposes to rename NSF the National Science and Technology Foundation and would authorize up to $100 billion spread over five years to create a new technology-focused directorate. The Endless Frontier Act that will be introduced in the 117th<\/sup> Congress will most likely have some significant changes from the last version introduced in the 116th<\/sup> Congress.<\/p>\n

President Biden is expected to release his first president\u2019s budget request which will outline the administration\u2019s budget priorities shortly.<\/em><\/p>\n

See also: Science Committee Makes Counterproposal to Endless Frontier Act<\/a><\/p>\n

Senate Confirms Biden\u2019s Pick for Deputy Secretary of Energy, Biden Establishes Environmental Justice Advisory Council<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nThe full Senate overwhelmingly voted to confirm David Turk as the deputy secretary for the Department of Energy. Turk worked for the Energy and State Departments during the Obama administration. Most recently, he was the deputy executive director for the International Energy Agency, which advises Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries about energy policy.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration withdrew Elizabeth Klein\u2019s nomination to be deputy secretary for the Department of the Interior. Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-WV) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) raised objections to her nomination because of her opposition to fossil fuels. Klein\u2019s name was withdrawn for the job before Debra Haaland was confirmed to be the Interior secretary. Although she expressed concerns about Interior Secretary Haaland\u2019s opposition to fossil fuels, Murkowski voted for Haaland\u2019s confirmation and recognized the historical significance of Haaland\u2019s nomination to be the first Native American cabinet secretary.<\/p>\n

Advisory Councils<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Joe Biden announced the membership of the White House Council Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC)<\/a>. Members include Robert Bullard, a Texas Southern University professor often credited as the \u201cfather of environmental justice,\u201d as well as scholars, advocates and representatives of environmental justice communities from across the country. The White House created the council under Biden\u2019s Jan. 22 executive order, \u201cTackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.<\/a>\u201d The advisory council is tasked with providing advice and recommendations to the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and the White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council on a whole-of-government approach to environmental justice.<\/p>\n

During the first meeting of the WHEJAC, the group received an overview of how the administration plans to invest 40% of clean energy spending in marginalized communities.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nDiscrimination:<\/strong> Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) introduced a resolution (S.Res. 133)<\/a> that condemns anti-Asian sentiment, racism and discrimination and calls on federal officials, in collaboration with state and local agencies and Asian American and Pacific Islander community organizations, to address the rise in COVID-19-related hate crimes. ESA and other scientific organizations endorsed a similar resolution from Duckworth, Hirono and Vice President Kamala Harris introduced during the 116th<\/sup> Congress in April 2020.<\/p>\n

Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) introduced a similar resolution (H.Res. 151<\/a>) in the House of Representatives in February 2021. Meng\u2019s resolution has 146 co-sponsors.<\/p>\n

ESA issued a statement<\/a> calling on ESA members to demonstrate support for ecologists and students of Asian heritage in their places of work, including on campus and in the field, in March 2021.<\/p>\n

Legislative updates:<\/u><\/p>\n