At this time of great challenges for our nation, we write to thank you for your leadership in confronting inequities in the U.S. scientific enterprise that have prevented full participation of racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in STEM.

On August 26, 2020, the White House, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Energy (DOE) announced more than $1 billion in awards for the establishment of twelve new artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum information science (QIS) research and development (R&D) institutes nationwide.

On August 14, 2020, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), issued its annual science and technology priorities memorandum. The document guides federal agency priority-setting in the coming budget cycle. The directive identified public health security and innovation, industrial leadership, national security, energy and environmental leadership, and space exploration as priorities for the fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has released a new report, Strengthening Scientific Integrity at Federal Agencies: Recommendations for 2021 and Beyond, which outlines a road map for the next Administration to enhance scientific integrity across federal agencies.

The Public Policy Report has been released. The report provides analysis and communication on important issues in the scientific community.

On behalf of the scientific, medical, and patient communities dedicated to advancing human health, we write to express ongoing concerns about the NIH Human Fetal Tissue Ethics Advisory Board and its final report that would block funding for all but one research proposal seeking to use human fetal tissue.

A new computational study predicts that several critically endangered primate species are at a very high risk of contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Congress and the White House have allowed politics to get in the way of passing COVID-19 recovery and assistance legislation, including $26 billion in supplemental funding for scientific research and development.

After COVID relief negotiations between White House representatives and Democratic congressional leaders reached an impasse, President Trump signed a series of Executive Orders on August 8, 2020, the White House argued would restore lapsed benefits and address some of the pandemic’s economic impacts.

On July 27, 2020, Republican lawmakers in the Senate unveiled a $1 trillion stimulus package to address the impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.