October 25, 2024
Join AGU Science Policy at AGU24 in Washington DC
AGU24 is just around the corner and our Science Policy and Government Relations team has a jam-packed agenda for our members at this year’s meeting in Washington, DC. From science policy 101 to understanding how scientists can engage with congress after the election to exploring science policy careers, we are here to help you make the most of your meeting. Explore our day-by-day schedule below: Monday, 9 December What’s Next for …
October 15, 2024
A year in the life of a Congressional Science Fellow
Devon Gorby, PhD, was AGU’s 2023-2024 Congressional Science Fellow. She is now a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State. From September 2023 to September 2024, I worked in the office of Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico as AGU’s Congressional Science Fellow. I used my scientific background in climate science, geology and hydrology to cover his water and environment portfolios. The experience was the …
August 6, 2024
Senate Aims to Preserve Scientific Progress in FY25 Spending Bills: Part 2
In this Bridge post, continued from our Senate FY25 Appropriations Overview Part 1 blog, we’ll cover the Senate’s Interior-Environment, Energy-Water, and Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS) spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2025—detailing relevant funding levels and sharing committee report highlights that impact the Earth and space sciences. Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations bill and accompanying report. United States Geological Survey (USGS) FY2024 President’s Budget Request FY2025 AGU Request FY2025 …
August 1, 2024
AGU endorses the FORECASTS Tracking Act
On 30 July, AGU and its coalition partners in Friends of NOAA sent a letter to Senator Ed Markey’s office (D-MA) endorsing the Forecasting Optimization for Robust Earth Climate Analysis and Subseasonal to Seasonal (FORECASTS) Tracking Act of 2024. This legislation continues to progress the work done by Congress in the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 by providing funding for essential activities at the National Oceanic and …
July 31, 2024
Senate Aims to Preserve Scientific Progress in FY25 Spending Bills: Part 1
On Thursday, 25 July, the full Senate Appropriations Committee began marking up their spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2025, starting with the Commerce-Justice-Science and Interior-Environment bills, which will be followed by the Energy-Water and Labor-HHS bills later this week. These bills collectively set the spending amounts for U.S. federal science agencies, including NASA, NOAA, NSF, USGS, EPA, the Department of Energy, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. …
July 23, 2024
FY25 Appropriations overview part 2: House spending numbers mark weak support for science
In this Bridge post, continued from our FY25 Appropriations Overview Part 1 blog, we’ll cover the House’s Interior-Environment, Energy-Water, and Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS) spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2025—detailing relevant funding levels and sharing committee report highlights that impact the Earth and space sciences. House Interior-Environment Appropriations bill and accompanying report. United States Geological Survey (USGS) FY2024 President’s Budget Request FY2025 AGU Request FY2025 House …
July 22, 2024
FY25 Appropriations overview part 1: House spending numbers mark weak support for science
On Tuesday, 9 July the full House Appropriations Committee marked up their Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior and Environment, and Energy and Water spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2025. These bills collectively set the spending amounts for U.S. federal science agencies, including NASA, NOAA, NSF, USGS, EPA, the Department of Energy. Under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Congress established spending caps for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The Act allows only a 1% …
July 9, 2024
AGU joins letter opposing FY25 Labor, Health and Human Services cuts
On 9 July, AGU joined nearly 200 organizations in sending a letter to House Appropriations leadership expressing concern over proposed cuts to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor- HHS). We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to share our opposition to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor- HHS) Appropriations bill as currently …
AGU joins letter calling on Congress to reject FY25 budget cuts
On 25 June, AGU joined 1050 organizations asking leadership in Congress to reject proposed funding cuts for FY25. The 1,050 undersigned organizations—which represent the full breadth of investments that support all of America, every day—call on Congress to reject arbitrary and damaging funding levels for Fiscal Year 2025 and, at the very least, to fully appropriate the necessary non-defense discretionary (NDD) funds to keep pace with rising costs and …
AGU joins letter requesting planes needed for Arctic and Antarctic research
On 20 June 2024, AGU joined other organizations sending a letter to leaders of the appropriations committees in the House and the Senate requesting funding for two LC-130J airplanes needed for research operations in the Arctic and Antarctic. As you advance fiscal year (FY) 2025 appropriations, we urge you to fund procurement of two LC-130J airplanes in the Defense Appropriations bill. These airplanes are critically needed to safeguard U.S. …