What’s Happening in Washington
Funding Deadline Looms Next Week
We’ve got one week to go before the government faces a partial shutdown. Friday, December 21 is the deadline for a decision on funding the remaining seven fiscal 2019 spending bills. Complicating plans for next week, the first House votes are not scheduled until December 19. Congressional appropriators have not signaled an agreement, but are mulling the implications of completing six bills and continuing stopgap funding for the Department of Homeland Security. When Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer met with President Trump this week to discuss an appropriations deal, the President said he is prepared to shut down the government unless he gets funding for a border wall. The health agencies exposed to the current funding bill turmoil are the Food and Drug Administration, the Indian Health Service and international health assistance programs. If no agreement is cleared by December 21, the agencies would begin the process of limiting operations.
What We Are Working On
Diabetes Self-Management Training Legislation
We continue to gather support for the Diabetes Self-Management Training Act (HR 5768/S 3366) that would expand access to diabetes self-management training services. Please join us in urging your members of Congress to co-sponsor the Expanding Access to Diabetes Self-Management Training Act by taking action on our campaign.
Insulin Pricing
The issue of increasing drug costs is certain to continue to be in the spotlight when the new 116th Congress sets its agenda in January. We will share our new position statement on insulin pricing with all new Members of Congress. We are excited that it will be featured in a piece on the CBS Evening News on December 13th with Endocrine Society member Claresa Levetan.
NIH Policies on Next Generation Researchers & Sexual Harassment
The NIH Advisory Committee to the Director met December 13-14 discuss a variety of important research-focused issues. The Next Generation (NextGen) Researchers Initiative Working Group delivered a draft report, with recommendations in five thematic areas that can be found here. The Committee also held an in-depth discussion on NIH policies and approaches to address and prevent sexual harassment, both at intramural sites and at extramural labs. Importantly, NIH has developed a survey that they will encourage NIH-funded institutions to administer to researchers to gather a data-driven assessment that will inform initiatives to prevent sexual harassment in biomedical research. NIH also established a new Working Group on Sexual Harassment that will develop draft recommendations for NIH by June 2019. The Endocrine Society’s Research Affairs Core Committee discussed the issue of sexual harassment in the biomedical workforce during its October meeting and agreed that the Endocrine Society should closely monitor NIH’s approach and how they propose to address harassment and other forms of research misconduct.
House Panels Debate Fetal Tissue Alternatives
A joint House subcommittee hearing December 13 on alternatives to fetal tissue research turned feisty as lawmakers focused on the divisive issue of abortion. The hearing came as the Department of Health and Human Services continues closed-door conversations on whether it should keep providing about $100 million for this type of research. The discussion by two House Oversight Committee subcommittees — Healthcare, Benefits, and Administrative Rules as well as Government Operations — fell along party lines, with Republicans expressing concerns about the source of fetal tissue. We joined with other research organizations to express opposition to restrictions that would further impede fetal tissue research. Read our letter here.
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