Washington Week in Science - January 31, 2025

A Weekly Update of Policy News and Select Funding Opportunities Compiled by Van Scoyoc Associates View this email in your browser January 31, 2025

Health The Republican doctor who could be a hurdle to RFK Jr.'s confirmation Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) cast doubt Thursday over whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is qualified to be the next leader of the government’s largest and most powerful health agency. Cassidy, a doctor, has emerged as a key swing vote in Kennedy's bid to be the secretary of health and human services. Cassidy chairs the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and sits on the Finance Committee, the two panels Kennedy testified before this week. Read more:  NBC News   N.I.H. trials and essential hiring may continue, acting director says Clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health and at organizations it funds may continue, and patients may still travel to trial sites to participate in research, despite the Trump administration's restrictions on travel and communications, the acting director of the N.I.H., Dr. Matthew Memoli, said in an email to staff on Monday. Dr. Memoli’s note emphasized that critical purchases for needed laboratory supplies, and any contracting required “for anything directly related to human safety, human or animal health care, security, biosafety, biosecurity or I.T. security,” could continue. Read more:  New York Times   CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong, sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all agency staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their collaborations and “await further guidance.” Read more:  STAT News   State Department permits distribution of HIV medications to resume — for now The Trump administration on Tuesday issued a waiver for lifesaving medicines and medical services, offering a reprieve for a worldwide H.I.V. treatment program that was halted last week. The waiver, announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, seemed to allow for the distribution of H.I.V. medications, but whether the waiver extended to preventive drugs or other services offered by the program, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, was not immediately clear. Read more:  New York Times   Defense   Senators grill Tulsi Gabbard on Snowden, Syria at hearing to be intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, stuck relentlessly to her script during a contentious confirmation hearing Thursday, pledging to protect U.S. secrets, reform American spy agencies and provide Americans with transparency about their work — all while deflecting questions about her past controversial statements and actions. Pressed a half-dozen times by both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gabbard took a pass on declaring National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden a “traitor” for his leaks and defended her 2017 meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Read more: Washington Post   DoD says contracts continue amid confusion over White House order The Department of Defense moved swiftly to quash reports it had suspended contracts awards, clarifying that military procurement continues despite confusion stemming from a White House directive on federal spending. “Contrary to certain media accounts, the Department of Defense has not paused contract awards,” a Pentagon official said Jan. 28 in a statement addressing widespread speculation that had rattled the defense industry. Read more:  Space News   Hegseth confirmed as next defense secretary by narrow Senate vote Iraq War veteran and former Fox News Host Pete Hegseth was confirmed as the next defense secretary by a narrow, partisan margin Friday, allowing the divisive nominee to assume leadership of Pentagon operations early next week. Hegseth, 44, is one of the youngest to ever hold the post and already one of the most controversial. His confirmation was beset by allegations of past sexual misconduct, spousal abuse, excessive drinking and insufficient leadership experience. Read more:  Military Times   Pete Hegseth, Trump’s new defense secretary, issues message vowing to ‘rapidly’ field emerging tech Newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a message to the military on Saturday that expressed his intent to quickly field emerging capabilities to deter China and others. Hegseth narrowly won confirmation Friday night and was officially sworn in Saturday morning. “It is the privilege of a lifetime to lead the warriors of the Department of Defense, under the leadership of our Commander in Chief Donald J. Trump. We will put America First, and we will never back down,” the SecDef said in his first “Message to the Force.” Read more:  Defense Scoop   Trump signs order for massive ‘Iron Dome’ President Trump has signed an executive order for the Pentagon to move out on developing an “Iron Dome for America,” a massive, likely multi-billion-dollar project that will utilize space-based interceptors. New Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has 60 days to submit a plan for building out the “next generation of missile defense shield” with the White House expecting the project to be included in the upcoming FY2026 budget request. Read more:  Via Satellite   Energy   Senate confirms Burgum for Interior Secretary The Senate on Thursday confirmed the nomination of former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to be Interior Secretary by a vote of 79-18. Burgum will be tasked with supporting President Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda as the head of a department that manages over 70% of all federal public lands. Trump has said Burgum will also serve on a National Energy Council, to be created by executive order and whose mission Burgum described as reducing “red tape and bureaucratic redundancy between agencies” to increase domestic energy production. Read more:  Roll Call   Chris Wright nomination clears key procedural hurdle The Senate voted 62-35 on Thursday to invoke cloture on Chris Wright’s nomination to lead the Energy Department. The procedural step sets up a final vote on Wright’s confirmation for early next week. Read more:  Politico   Trump freezes $50 billion in DOE funding for programs including clean energy innovation The Trump administration has halted spending from the United States Department of Energy (DOE)’s approximately $50 billion budget while a “comprehensive review” is conducted to ensure its spending and other actions — which include funding for new energy technologies — are in alignment with the priorities of President Donald Trump, according to an agency memo seen by Bloomberg. The January 20 memo froze funding opportunities such as loans and the awarding of grants, as well as activities like the publication of rules and studies, until they are approved by Acting Secretary of Energy Ingrid Kolb. Read more:  EcoWatch   Biofuels groups pleased with Zeldin confirmation The U.S. Senate Wednesday confirmed the nomination of Lee Zeldin to become administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and biofuels groups are happy with the decision. Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper said they are looking forward to working with Administrator Zeldin. “As noted during his Senate confirmation hearing,” he said, “Mr. Zeldin understands that ethanol and other renewable fuels will play an important role in accomplishing the President’s energy and environmental objectives. Read more: AGWired   Trump selects three senior DOE officials President Trump announced his selection of three senior Department of Energy officials: National Science Board Chair Darío Gil to be under secretary for science and innovation, former Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration, and Wells Griffith to be under secretary of energy. Trump also recently announced his selection of James Danly, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chair, to be deputy energy secretary. Read more:  AIP   Space   Trump asks Musk to ‘go get’ NASA astronauts stuck in space President Trump said Tuesday he “asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to ‘go get’ the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space.” “I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to ‘go get’ the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. Read more: The Hill   NASA astronaut Suni Williams sets new record on 5.5-hour spacewalk outside ISS Two NASA astronauts working outside of the International Space Station on Thursday were able to finally remove a faulty radio communications unit, succeeding where two previous spacewalks had been unsuccessful. Williams and Wilmore, who launched together on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and are serving together on the station’s Expedition 72 crew, began the 5-hour and 26-minute spacewalk at 7:43 am, EST (1243 GMT). Read more:  Space.com   Science and Technology   Trump's Commerce Secretary pick says Biden-era chips investments need review U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee for Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said on Wednesday that the Biden-era subsidies for U.S. semiconductor manufacturing are an "excellent down payment" but need review. "I think they're an excellent down payment as a structure. I think we need to get it right," Lutnick told a confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Read more:  US News & World Report   Little Tech boosts Trump’s White House science office pick Little Tech companies and venture capital firms are urging the Senate to confirm Michal Kraksios, President’s Trump’s pick to serve as director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. Figures including Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark and SV Angel founder Ron Conway signed onto the letter, which was shared exclusively with Punchbowl News. Read more:  Punchbowl News   Trump re-establishes PCAST, says it will pursue science without ‘ideological agendas’ The Trump White House last week unveiled its plans for the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the advisory panel started under George W. Bush that this new administration says will be aimed at prioritizing scientific and technological advancements and the termination of “bureaucratic barriers.” President Donald Trump’s executive order positions this iteration of PCAST as a body that will refocus science and technology policy to “emphasize results-driven excellence and merit-based achievement,” according to the fact sheet.  Read more:  FedScoop   Fundamental Science and Engineering NSF and NIH grant reviews still on hold after White House rescinds memo The Trump Administration on Wednesday walked back its plan to freeze trillions in federal grants and loans, though a review of thousands of federal programs continues, along with a pause in grant reviews at the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. In the last week, President Trump has issued executive orders that banned funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs and “gender ideology” as well as cracked down on illegal immigration, among other issues. In order to comply with those orders, the National Science Foundation halted grant reviews this week, even before the memo from OMB. Read more: Inside Higher Ed, NSF Executive Orders,  NSF Grant Reviews In Case You Missed It—Important Research News from NSF This Week Biofabricating human tissues enhanced through use of gallium Biomedical engineering has benefited from 3D printing as prosthetic devices can be produced and tested more rapidly than ever before. However, 3D printing still faces challenges when printing living tissues, partly due to their complexity and fragility. Now a research team at Boston University and the Wyss Institute at Harvard University has pioneered the use of gallium, a metal that can be molded at room temperature, to create tissue structures in various shapes and sizes. This innovative approach to fabrication, sacrificial capillary pumps for evacuation (ESCAPE), was highlighted in a recent study published in Nature. Learn more:  Gallium NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin observatory will detect millions of exploding stars The NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, will soon begin scanning the Southern Hemisphere sky every night for 10 years. Among the trillions of cosmic events and objects it will capture will be millions of exploding stars called Type Ia supernovas, which are produced by exploding white dwarf stars and are some of the brightest cosmic spectacles. Learn more:  Supernovas Pinpointing where Yellowstone will erupt in the very distant future U.S. National Science Foundation-supported researchers published new findings suggesting a location where the Yellowstone Caldera could erupt, hundreds of thousands of years from now. The Yellowstone Caldera is one of the largest volcanic systems on Earth, lurking beneath Yellowstone National Park and touching three states. Learn more:  Yellowstone   Oceans and Atmosphere Lutnick says he won’t dismantle NOAA as called for in Project 2025 President Trump’s pick to lead the Commerce Department assured senators on Wednesday he won’t try to dismantle the nation’s climate, oceans and weather science agency during a largely genial confirmation hearing. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) asked Commerce nominee Howard Lutnick if he would want to break up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which falls under the department. Read more:  The Hill   Environment       US Senate confirms Zeldin as EPA administrator The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted 56-42 to confirm former Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, tasked with rolling back climate rules from former President Joe Biden that were aimed at slashing emissions from vehicles, power plants and factories. President Donald Trump picked Zeldin, 44, to lead EPA's deregulation efforts, lifting hurdles on oil and gas drilling and reversing course on the Biden administration's emissions rules aimed at spurring more electric vehicle use. Read more:  Reuters   EPA fires science advisers Acting EPA Administrator James Payne has ousted all members of two of the agency’s most influential science advisory panels, giving President Donald Trump’s administration the opportunity to reshape them with its own appointees. In an obliquely worded email sent late Tuesday afternoon, Payne said a decision had been made to “reset” the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and Science Advisory Board “to ensure that the agency receives scientific advice consistent with its legal obligations to advance our core mission.” Read more:  Politico   Agriculture   Keeping the farm bill at the forefront of the conversation The National Farmers Union wants to ensure Congress is committed to finishing a farm bill this year. President Rob Larew says the organization remains focused on getting a new a five-year farm bill across the finish line this year. “We want to drive home the fact that safety net right now is not quite adequate,” he says. “We need strong crop insurance. We need to make sure that those programs helping commodities are as strong as possible.” Read more:  Brownfield Ag News   SNAP, reconciliation and the farm bill The chairman and ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee on Monday seemed to offer a unified front opposing potential $300 billion in cuts to the nation's largest nutrition program. Speaking to members of the American Farm Bureau Federation, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-PA) and Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-MN) expressed optimism about passing a farm bill this year, but they also highlighted some of the major hurdles they face. Read more:  Progressive Farmer   Trump removes inspectors general, including Fong at USDA On Friday night, the White House removed the independent inspectors general of nearly every Cabinet-level agency including the Agriculture Department “in an unprecedented purge that could clear the way for President Donald Trump to install loyalists in the crucial role of identifying fraud, waste and abuse in the government,” The Washington Post reported. The inspectors general were notified late Friday by emails from White House personnel director Sergio Gor that “due to changing priorities” they had been terminated immediately, according to people familiar with the actions, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private messages, the Post said. Read more:  The Fence Post