Below is an update on the status of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2015, H.R. 1806. As you may know, the legislation sets arbitrary funding levels and contains a near 50% cut to the National Science Foundation's Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate - effectively eliminating large portions of funding for social and personality psychologists, among other social scientists.
Last month, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee passed H.R. 1806. The legislation now heads to the House floor. The bill is scheduled to be on the House floor the week of May 18th. Social scientists have recently written columns (here and here) on the potential detrimental effects of this legislation. It is imperative that social scientists not sit on the sidelines when issues as vital as sustaining a major source of federal funding for basic social science research are being debated.
I urge you to contact your representative here and ask them to oppose this anti-science bill. Additionally, I recommend contacting your university's government relations staff to ensure they are focusing on this threat to social science research and are letting members of Congress know the harms that will be done to American universities. Additional information on H.R. 1806 can be found on the Consortium of Social Science Association's website.
Please feel free to share with your colleagues and others who care about protecting the social and behavioral sciences. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Best,
Mike Swain
SPSP Communications/Policy Specialist
[email protected] | (202) 524-6543