What you can do

  • On March 24, March For Our Lives will hold its main march in Washington, DC, along with more than 700 events worldwide, to demand action against gun violence.
  • The April 14 March for Science in Washington, DC, is also sponsoring satellite marches around the world.
  • On April 20 and 21, 314 Action will hold a training session in Chicago for STEM professionals interested in running for office.

FY18 budget deadline approaches

Congress is reportedly making progress toward passing the FY18 budget, though it will need to pass its budget or a temporary continuing resolution by March 23 to avoid another government shutdown. Congress has already faced this deadline five times this year, and each time delayed the process by passing a continuing resolution. The last two deadlines led to brief government shutdowns as well. In response to the ongoing dysfunction in the congressional budget process, the Bipartisan Budget Act passed in February created a Joint Select Committee on Budget Process Reform tasked with making recommendations to improve the process. In the meantime, work has begun on the FY19 budget, with hearings in the House this week on the budgets for Department of Defense S&T programs, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, and others.

OSTP reports on first year of Trump administration; OSTP staffing levels increasing

On March 7, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a report, also summarized on the OSTP webpage, describing the state of science and technology policy during the first year of the Trump administration. The summary touts the "tremendous S&T achievements by the Trump Administration to date", including budget increases, but a fact check from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) showed that OSTP's claimed increase of 2% in the federal R&D budget from 2017 to 2018 was incorrect; it was based on a continuing resolution for 2017 that was later superseded by larger R&D budgets when Congress passed an omnibus spending bill. The OSTP summary also refers to its "robust team of over 50 staff members", but OSTP staff had already been reduced from a high of 135 during the Obama administration to only about 30 at the beginning of the Trump administration. This indicates that OSTP has grown somewhat through recent hiring, although the positions of Director and Chief Technology Officer remain vacant as of March 15.

Trump blocks Broadcom takeover of Qualcomm

On March 12, President Trump issued a presidential order blocking the acquisition of San Diego chipmaker Qualcomm by Broadcom, a technology company headquartered in Singapore. Trump based the order on what he called "credible evidence" that the overseas-based firm might "take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States". A U.S. Treasury official suggested that the takeover of an American electronics company by a foreign company could cede primacy in their technology specialty to China, although Broadcom is not a Chinese company. Qualcomm is currently a leader in the development of 5G, the fifth-generation global cellular technology designed to improve speed and adapt standards to a wider range of applications. Though not all industry analysts agree that the takeover would be a security threat, several explained in a CNET interview that blocking the takeover would preserve Qualcomm's reputation for innovation as an American-run company. Broadcom announced on March 14 that it was withdrawing the deal, but also making plans to relocate its own headquarters from Singapore to the United States.

RAND study advises lifting restrictions on CDC gun-violence research

Heated debates over gun control continue in the aftermath of the February 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. (Congress may vote soon on the STOP School Violence Act, which authorizes anti-violence training and reporting systems for schools, but does not restrict gun ownership.) One major issue is inadequate data on the public health consequences of gun violence; the 1996 Dickey Amendment permitted the CDC to research the issue but not engage in "advocacy" -- and lowered the CDC budget by the amount previously planned for gun-violence research. A recent RAND Corporation report concluded that currently available data are inadequate for effective policymaking on firearms laws, and recommended lifting restrictions that limit the CDC's ability to research gun violence. The late Jay Dickey, the Arkansas Republican who sponsored the namesake amendment to a House bill, might have approved; in a 2015 interview, he regretted that his amendment had been interpreted to completely defund CDC's gun-violence research.

Jump in public support for more technology regulation

From November 2017 to the end of February 2018, public support for more regulation of social media companies increased by 15%. The increase was about equal for people identifying as Democrat, Republican, or independent, and is now at 55%. Recent news about election interference, fake news, and digital addiction are blamed for the rapid shift. A majority now believe that social media does more to harm democracy and free speech than to help.

Environmental health experts clash with FDA over BPA classification

A group of environmental-health researchers, led by University of Missouri professor Fred vom Saal, have condemned the FDA's recent decision to classify bisphenol-A (BPA), used in plastics and thermal paper, as safe at current levels of human exposure. The FDA made this determination via partial data released by a National Toxicology Program (NTP) study, but BPA researchers warned that standard toxicology tests are designed to detect only some deleterious effects, such as tumor growth and changes in organ weight. Other studies have shown that even extremely low BPA exposures have estrogen-like effects that can disrupt human endocrine function -- and raise the risks of diabetes, obesity, infertility, and attention-deficit disorder. Previous reports also revealed laboratory contamination and use of an inappropriate animal model in the FDA's BPA studies. The FDA and NIH, along with the concerned health researchers, participate in the federally-funded $32 million CLARITY-BPA research consortium; one anonymous researcher warned that the FDA's presentation of flawed experiments "borders on scientific misconduct".

Quick takes

  • Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) signed the first statewide net neutrality bill on March 5, 2018; the Oregon legislature passed a similar bill. Dozens of other states are either considering similar legislation or taking executive action.
  • An estimated 57 million liters of mercury are trapped in Northern Hemisphere permafrost, and could contaminate lakes and rivers due to thawing caused by climate change.
  • The Department of the Interior may increase the use of drones to scout and fight wildfires.
  • An EPA study showed that African Americans are disproportionately exposed to harmful particulates released by burning fossil fuels.
  • Geologist and former NASA astronaut James Reilly II has promised to protect scientific integrity from partisan interference if he is confirmed as USGS director.
  • A recently published MIT study indicates that fake news stories were circulated faster and more widely than true news stories.
  • The House of Representatives failed to secure the two-thirds majority needed to pass a "Right to Try" bill that would have bypassed FDA protections to expand access to experimental and unproven treatments.
  • Robert Lightfoot, who has served as Acting Administrator for NASA since January 2017, announced that he will retire at the end of April.
  • President Trump has nominated Lisa Porter to be Deputy Under Secretary for Defense for Research and Engineering.
  • The NIH has released a draft Strategic Plan for Data Science and is seeking input on the plan until April 2.

Have comments or something to add? Contact the RISE Stronger Science & Technology Policy Working Group at [email protected].

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