The Headlines
- Congress and the Administration continue to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
- Help us tell the story of COVID-19's impact on your research!
- The Administration issues a new restrictive immigration proclamation; Congress lays markers on immigration policy.
- Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development holds a virtual meeting with Autism Caucus co-chair.
If you ever asked
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The Details
1. Federal health updates from Capitol Hill and the agencies
While resuming a more regular schedule, new precautions are being put into place to protect Members and staff. The Office of the Attending Physician, which serves Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, has warned that pre-COVID-19 normal operations will not be back in place for quite some time.
The Senate returned from a brief recess this week while the House continued a number of its activities remotely. House Appropriations Chair Nita Lowey (D-NY) announced plans for an aggressive schedule to hold committee markups and pass all twelve of the House’s versions of FY 2021 appropriations bills by the end of July. Senate Republican leadership is aiming to begin marking up at least some of its versions of FY 2021 appropriations in June, but those schedules may be complicated by growing interest in both chambers to begin negotiations on the need for a “Phase IV” COVID-19 stimulus and recovery package.
House Democrats have already put down their marker for a “Phase IV” bill with the passage of the HEROES Act (HR 6800) in mid-May. Senate Republican leaders and the White House maintain they will chart their own path, but some policies favored by Democrats, including extending unemployment benefits, are beginning to gain additional bipartisan support. Formal negotiations on “Phase IV” may begin within the next couple of weeks, but the timeline for passing comprehensive legislation has slipped into July.
Duke Health Government Relations and our partners continue to advocate for at least $26 billion to be included in a “Phase IV” package to protect the research enterprise, as well as additional relief for providers. In a May 27 letter, the Association of American Universities, Association of American Medical Colleges, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and the American Council on Education sent a letter to House and Senate leadership urging that the $26 billion be appropriated to federal research agencies to support the research workforce, mitigate the disruptions to research and core research facilities, and ramp up research that has been halted or slowed. The letter further argues that this funding is not meant to enhance but preserve our nation’s current research investment.
On May 27, academic stakeholders sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) urging an extension of the flexibilities outlined in M-20-17, “Administrative Relief for Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Impacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to Loss of Operations,” until September 30, 2020. Our office continues to urge Congressional support for this extension.
On June 3, Dr. David Skorton, President of the Association of American Medical Colleges, sent a letter to Alex Azar, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, with recommendations on future funding allocations from the Provider Relief Fund for COVID-19. The letter outlines recommendations for methodologies and distribution of funding including (but not limited to) providers caring for vulnerable patients, hospitals with a high number of ICU beds, providers seeing a large influx of COVID-19 patients, and physician practice plans.
Congress is also examining how the spread of COVID-19 is impacting more vulnerable populations, including currently incarcerated individuals. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Tuesday entitled “Examining Best Practices for Incarceration and Detention During COVID-19” to discuss issues such as testing, procedures and criteria for release for home confinement, and how the Bureau of Prisons is mitigating COVID-19 outbreaks. During the hearing, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) questioned witnesses about increased cases of COVID-19 at the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner and the risk factors for those in federal institutions.
2. Are you interested in sharing an example of the impact of COVID-19 on your research?
Duke Health Government Relations is supporting efforts from the Association of American Medical Colleges to collect and share examples about COVID-19’s impact on young/early stage investigators, the research process, and the potential impact on patients over the long term. Duke Health Government Relations would also like to share these stories with policymakers to provide real-world examples to illustrate why additional relief is needed during this unprecedented pandemic. If you would like to share a story please contact julie.rose@duke.edu.
3. Immigration updates
On May 29, President Trump issued a proclamation that would ultimately prevent certain students from China from entering the United States to pursue graduate studies or research if it is determined that their work is connected to China’s “Military-Civil Fusion” strategy. There is a lot of uncertainty how the order will be applied and implemented, and Duke Health Government Relations is working with our Duke University colleagues and professional partners to better understand any potential impact on Duke Health students and visiting scholars. You may read more information about the recent proclamation here.
Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) have introduced immigration legislation to further restrict Chinese students from academic programs in the United States. The Secure Campus Act (H.R. 7033/Senate bill number pending) would bar mainland Chinese nationals from receiving student or research visas for graduate or post-graduate studies in STEM fields. The bill does not have broad support and will very likely not be considered in the current Congress.
Reports suggest that the Administration may soon release a follow up to its April 22 Executive Order suspending green card processing. The new order may impose restrictions on H-1B visas and the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, although exemptions are expected for frontline medical workers and medical research. Rumors of restrictions on OPT have sparked opposition from both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, including a letter from a diverse group of House Republicans, led by Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH), that calls for the full preservation of the OPT program.
In more positive news, bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate that would make available additional immigrant visas to health care workers during the COVID-19 national health emergency. The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act (S. 3599 / H.R. 6788) would allow nurses and physicians to petition for previously unused immigrant visas during the national health emergency. The number of visas available is equal to the number of unused employment-based visas from FY 1992 to FY 2020, with a cap of 40,000. Of those unused visas, 25,000 are set aside for nurses and 15,000 for physicians. The bills are led by Senators Perdue (R-GA) and Durbin (D-IL) in the Senate and Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Tom Cole (R-OK) in the House – and some support is building for inclusion of the legislative text in the next COVID-19 stimulus and recovery package in efforts to strengthen health provider capacity.
4. Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development Meets Virtually with Congressman Mike Doyle’s Office
This week, Dr. Geraldine Dawson, Director for the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development and William Cleland Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Dr. Lauren Franz, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Global Health, participated in a virtual meeting with staff in the office of Representative Mike Doyle (D-PA-18). Rep. Doyle is one of the co-chairs and founders of the Congressional Autism Caucus.
During the meeting Dr. Dawson and Dr. Franz discussed the work being done at the Center, which is a National Institutes of Health Autism Center of Excellence. They also discussed the impact of COVID-19 on individuals with autism spectrum disorder.
Duke Health Government Relations continues to identify opportunities to elevate our experts to help inform timely federal policy.