Here is a quick rundown of major issues being discussed by policymakers from an endocrine perspective and the Society’s current advocacy work.
What is Happening in Washington
Senate Passes NIH Funding Measure With $2 Billion Increase for NIH – On Thursday, August 23, the US Senate passed the Labor-HHS/Defense combined FY 2019 funding bill (HR 6157). Lawmakers also approved a package of amendments and managed to steer clear of roadblocks from controversial policy changes. For example, Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) overcame objections from the pharmaceutical industry to include language in the final bill relating to drug prices. Their amendment provides the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services with $1 million to develop regulations that would require drug makers to include pricing information in their advertisements to consumers.
Behind the Scenes – The funding bill had been poised for quick passage until skirmishes over votes for an amendment proposed by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to bar federal funding for Planned Parenthood threatened to derail the process. Senate leaders had tried to remove all controversial amendments, including the Paul amendment from consideration, but Senator Paul had blasted Republicans from the floor calling attention to it. Because three Democrats were absent, the Paul amendment looked like it could pass. Ultimately, however, Republican Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined with Democrats to vote against it and defeated the measure.
Uncertain Path Forward – Approval of the $179.3 billion Labor-HHS-Education funding measure is a major milestone, but this vote is only a fraction of the work left ahead for lawmakers. The House Appropriations Committee approved its version of the funding bill in July, but it hasn’t had a vote on the chamber floor. Further, both chambers still must reconcile their bill versions before the start of fiscal year 2019 on October 1 or risk shutting down the Department of HHS or providing only flat funding through a Continuing Resolution. Therefore, NIH funding is still uncertain, and we will be calling on members to join our new campaign urging both the House and Senate to pass a funding bill with $39.3 Billion for NIH by the end of September. Our advocacy efforts, however, have gotten us this far — $2 Billion increase in Senate; $1 Billion in House – so we will continue to work to keep up the pressure!
Senate Hearing on NIH Looks at Research Priorities and Foreign Influence – This week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on “Prioritizing Cures: Science and Stewardship at NIH.” NIH Director Francis Collins and several other Institute Directors discussed recent advances in biomedical research made by NIH-funded scientists. Dr. Collins also addressed concerns from the Committee that foreign entities “have mounted systematic programs to influence NIH researchers and peer-reviewers.” He announced NIH will establish a working group of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director and work with the biomedical research community and other stakeholders to mitigate “breaches of trust and confidentiality that undermine the integrity of US biomedical research.”
What We are Working on
Taking Action on Funding for NIH – As noted above, the Senate passage of the combined HHS/Defense spending bill is a major victory for our advocacy efforts (in the last few weeks we have generated hundreds of emails to Capitol Hill), but we are continuing to push for a final funding bill. See www.endocrine.org/takeaction and our new webpage on NIH Funding Advocacy. We also are a sponsor of the Rally for Medical Research and are bringing several endocrine researchers to Congress on September 13 to advocate for increased NIH funding.
Disaster Response – We are working with our partners in the Diabetes Disaster Response Coalition (DDRC) to prepare for Hurricane Lane in Hawaii. We finalized a patient preparedness plan, which can be accessed here: http://main.diabetes.org/dorg/PDFs/emergency-preparedness/DDRCPatientPreparednessPlan2018Short.pdf. More information about DDRC resources and patient information can be found at www.endocrine.org/DisasterResponse
Volunteers for NIH Study Sections – We are sending out our yearly request to basic and clinical researchers to solicit volunteers for NIH study sections. The study sections are peer-review groups that evaluate NIH grants and influence funding, so it is critical that they include endocrine scientists to ensure that they can competently and fairly evaluate endocrine-related grants.
Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) – We are broadening our outreach to Endocrine Society members in the European Union who are interested in the subject of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). We are sending an e-mail to EU-based members to encourage them to take action and visit our new EDC topic page. The topic page now includes a special call-out box with instructions on how to work with the Society to send a letter outlining our priorities for a revised EU Strategy on EDCs to their national representatives.
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