In a summer of extreme weather events, NASA is emphasizing its role in studying the climate, efforts that face both fiscal headwinds and partisan divides. The attention to climate science comes during a series of recent extreme events linked to climate change . . . . That urgency to study the climate, though, risks colliding with new fiscal realities. Most of NASA’s climate-related work is funded through its Earth science division, which requested $2.47 billion in fiscal year 2024, a 12% increase from 2023. However, a bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee July 13 would provide NASA with $2.22 billion for Earth science, effectively flat funding from 2023. Some in the science community fear sharper cuts in Earth science in the House bill, particularly if it does not follow the Senate bill’s plan to cut spending on Mars Sample Return. That austerity is linked to budget caps enacted for the next two fiscal years as part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. (SpaceNews - July 21, 2023)

The Student Aid Alliance, which includes AAU, sent a letter to leaders of the House Appropriations Committee expressing “deep concerns with the drastic cuts proposed in the fiscal year (FY) 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill.” The bill proposes to eliminate funding for the Federal Work-Study program and the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program. As the alliance’s letter explained, “Together with the Pell Grant, these two programs provide access to college for millions of low-income students nationwide." The proposed FY24 House Labor-HHS-Education bill provides a total of $147 billion in discretionary funding, which is $60.3 billion below FY23 spending levels. The bill also cuts funding for the Department of Education by $12.1 billion to $67.4 billion. The House bill freezes the maximum Pell award at $7,395; AAU strongly supports increasing the maximum to $13,000. (Association of American Universities - July 24, 2023)

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced the Primary Care and Health Workforce Expansion Act on July 19, legislation that would reauthorize and expand a number of health care workforce programs and impose drastic reductions in hospital outpatient department payments. The legislation will be considered at a July 26 HELP Committee markup. Among other provisions, the Primary Care and Health Workforce Expansion Act would extend and provide new funding for programs administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), including the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), community health centers, children’s hospitals graduate medical education, rural residency planning and development, teaching health centers graduate medical education, and several health professions and nursing education programs under Titles VII and VIII of the Public Health Service Act. It would also provide 10,000 new Medicare-supported graduate medical education positions. (Association of American Medical Colleges - July 21, 2023)

A bipartisan trio of senators is looking to standardize and regulate name, image and likeness rules for college athletes, Yahoo Sports reported. Yahoo Sports received a draft of the bill, which was co-written by Kansas senator Jerry Moran, a Republican, along with New Jersey senator Cory Booker and Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal, who are Democrats. The bill would set a national policy allowing college athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness, which would trump state policies, and create the College Athletics Corporation to administer the bill and create specific policies. The CAC would be overseen by a 15-member board that would include athletes. National Collegiate Athletic Association, college leaders and coaches have pushed for Congress to intervene and provide guidelines on the use of NIL. In the absence of federal law, states have crafted their own policies, which NCAA officials say create an uneven playing field. (Inside Higher Ed - July 21, 2023)