NAEVR/AEVR News
NAEVR to Congress: Finalize FY2022 Appropriations
Although Congress passed, and President Biden signed (on September 30), a Continuing Resolution (CR) that funds the government with the start of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 on October 1, 2021, and runs through December 3, 2021, NAEVR and its advocacy colleagues have been urging Congress to finalize FY2022 appropriations expeditiously, as the CR funds at the FY2021 level. In NAEVR’s September 22 Advocacy Day, the 28 AEVR Emerging Vision Scientists cautioned that CRs have a chilling impact on research – a message echoed on September 23 by the 400+ participants in the Rally for Medical Research Advocacy Day and in subsequent letters to Capitol Hill from advocacy coalition partners (such as the Research! America Coalition).
Although the House has passed 10 of 12 FY2022 spending bills, the Senate has not taken similar action–although the Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to release bill drafts within the next two weeks with no additional bill markups expected. NAEVR will closely track NIH/NEI funding in the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) bill and relation to House numbers.
Read about NAEVR’s EVS Advocacy Day here and summary of AMD Briefing that began this year’s events here.
In the interim, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and NIH held a “Listening Session” on the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health (ARPA-H) proposed in the President’s FY2022 budget (funded at $6.5 billion) and in the House LHHS bill (funded at $3 billion and requiring authorization by Congress). In the notice, OSTP/NIH posted frequently asked questions and a summary of key themes heard at the prior 15 “Listening Sessions” held this summer. Note that NAEVR has commented to Congress that, although ARPA-H holds promise for new approaches to accelerate biomedical innovation, its funding should supplement and not supplant that of NIH base funding to support the Institutes and Centers (I/Cs) and that it should consider a wide variety of life-saving and quality-of-life enhancing research from across the I/Cs.
Read about the October 20 OSTP/NIH “Listening Session” and past sessions summary here.
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AEVR Holds Congressional Briefings—October 20 Myopia and
November 10 World Keratoconus Day 2021
AEVR’s Research Saving Sight, Restoring Vision Initiative continues its virtual education about the value of a broad range of vision research in these two upcoming Congressional Briefings, intended to keep vision issues front-and-center as Congress grapples with finalizing FY2022 appropriations. There is still time to register for the November 10 Briefing!
Read details and register here.