On July 31, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) introduced a new bipartisan bill, nicknamed SMASH 2.0 (short for Strengthening Mosquito Abatement for Safety and Health), with cosponsors Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Tina Smith (D-MN), intended to help strengthen and expand the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) vector management and response efforts.

 

ESA worked with King's office to help craft the bill, and some of the text was included in the Senate version of the reauthorization for the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), which expires on September 30. King's press release included a quote from ESA President Marianne Alleyne, Ph.D., highlighting the importance of this bill to the entomological community. At present no House companion bill has been created, and the House PAHPA text is only a straight reauthorization and extension of the existing SMASH Act from the previous PAHPA, which was signed into law in 2019.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved all 12 of the FY 2024 bills, including those that fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The House Appropriations Committee approved 10 of its bills and has released full details for the bills that would fund EPA and USDA, though not the full details of its funding proposals for NSF and HHS yet.

 

Overall, due to funding constraints established under the debt limit agreement and Congressional priorities, the House proposed much steeper cuts across most funding agencies with significant reductions to climate- and environment-focused programs. Notably, the House advanced provisions that would rescind large portions of unobligated Inflation Reduction Act funds, while the Senate advanced bills that would largely propose either flat funding or modest increases relative to the FY 2023 enacted level. The two chambers have yet to negotiate their respective bills to produce a final FY 2024 funding agreement. It is unlikely that the House and Senate will have crafted final proposals by the end of the fiscal year on September 30, so Congress will instead have to approve a continuing resolution to prevent a government shutdown.

 

Relevant highlights from the latest round of FY 2024 appropriations bills are provided below.

• National Science Foundation (NSF): The Senate bill would provide $9.5 billion to NSF, which is essentially flat, or $39 million below the FY 2023 enacted level, not including supplemental funding focused on CHIPS and Science Act implementation. When all supplemental funding is included, the funding provided in the bill would be $376 million, or 3.8 percent below the FY 2023 total NSF funding level.
• Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): Under the Senate bill, the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) division within CDC would be flat funded at $750.8 million. Environmental Health programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would be funded at $246 million, a slight $1 million decrease compared to the FY 2023 enacted level. Within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the agency overall would see a 3.7 percent increase over FY 2023 for a total of $49.2 billion. Within the agency, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) would receive level funding compared to the FY 2023 enacted level. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) would be flat funded at $1.5 billion.
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): The House bill would provide EPA with $6.2 billion, a 39.1 percent decrease below the FY 2023 enacted level. The bill proposes to rescind $9.2 billion in unobligated funds provided to EPA under the Inflation Reduction Act. The EPA Science and Technology account (S&T) would receive $560.7 million, a decrease of 30.1 percent below the FY 2023 enacted level. The House bill does not propose a specific funding level for the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Program. The Senate proposes a total of $9.9 billion for EPA and reflects Biden administration priorities in addressing climate change and advancing environmental justice. The Senate would provide $795.1 million to S&T and flat funding of $28.6 million to the STAR Program.
• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): The House would provide $1.3 billion to USGS, 10 percent below the FY 2023 enacted level. This would include $279 million for the Ecosystems Mission Area, a 9.2 percent cut below the FY 2023 enacted level. The Senate bill would dedicate $1.5 billion to USGS, including $309.1 million to the Ecosystems Mission Area, with a 1.7 percent increase for the Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program. Both committees acknowledge the threat of invasive species, both specifically naming the emerald ash borer as a priority issue, but only the Senate notes that it would provide increased funding to invasive species programs.

The House Energy and Commerce (E&C) and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committees held markups in mid-July to consider legislation that would be a part of the reauthorization of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA).

 

The House full committee markup came after the E&C Health Subcommittee held a markup of the same legislation the week prior, passing it on a party-line vote. Similar to the dynamic at the subcommittee markup, Republicans rebuked Democratic calls to include additional provisions aimed at addressing drug shortages, while Democrats criticized the low authorized funding levels and additional oversight of federal public health agencies in the legislation. The legislation passed the full committee on a party-line vote.

 

The Senate HELP Committee's version of a PAHPA reauthorization bill received much more bipartisan support, with the committee approving the legislation by a 17-3 vote. Congress will have to approve a final draft of PAHPA before programs authorized in the bill expire at the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

Xochitl Torres Small was confirmed by the Senate as deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in mid-July with strong bipartisan support. Small was a former U.S. representative from New Mexico from 2019 to 2021, after which she served as under secretary for rural development at USDA, where she became known for expanding internet access to rural communities. Small makes history as the first Latina in her position. Small's priorities as the new deputy secretary of agriculture will include promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in USDA programs and internally at the agency, including to support disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has named Jeanne Marrazzo, M.D., to serve as the next director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). She will succeed previous director Anthony Fauci, M.D., who stepped down in December 2022. Marrazzo is currently the director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Division of Infectious Diseases and has primarily focused her research on the human microbiome, particularly as it concerns the reproductive systems and sexually transmitted diseases. Marrazzo does not need to undergo Senate confirmation to serve as NIAID director and is expected to begin her tenure this fall.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) released a solicitation for the Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention (PIPP) Phase II Centers Program. The PIPP program covers fundamental research and development (R&D) activities focused on grand challenges in prediction and prevention related to infectious disease pandemics. The PIPP Phase II Centers Program will establish a network of centers that support interdisciplinary teams working to accelerate grand-challenge R&D activities with the overall goal to "transform society's ability to forecast the likelihood of pandemic-scale events, detect outbreaks early, and respond efficiently." NSF plans to support between four and seven centers funded at up to $18 million each over seven years. Letters of intent are due by August 25, with full proposals due December 8.

The White House Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has released guidelines to empower agencies to account for the costs and benefits that are derived from nature, including environmental and ecosystem services. These guidelines were drafted in consultation with the Office of Science and Technology Policy and various federal agencies to respond to directives in the Executive Order on Strengthening the Nation's Forests, Communities, and Local Economies published on Earth Day in 2022. Before finalizing the guidelines, OMB is requesting public comment by September 18, with full details included in the Federal Register notice. OMB is especially interested in specific questions concerning the scope and clarity of the guidelines, as well as around specific technical issues that may be of interest to academics.

The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), in partnership with the Department of the Interior (DOI), released its first draft of the prospectus for the First National Nature Assessment (NNA1) and has requested public comment. In addition, USGCRP is interested in recommendations and feedback on areas for which special-issue research journals may be helpful to inform the field and ideas of existing datasets or references that the NNA1 authors should reflect on. All input is requested by September 18; see instructions in the Federal Register notice. Later this Fall, the USGCRP anticipates releasing a call for nominations for NNA1 chapter co-authors and contributors. ESA anticipates continuing to engage with the USGCRP as the plans for the NNA1 progress.

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