Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations Outlook |
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The U.S. House of Representatives has been very busy moving FY 2022 appropriations bills through the committee process. Two in particular are important to AAVMC members: Labor-HHS-Education and Agriculture-Rural Development-FDA. On June 30th, the House Appropriations Committee passed its bill, which included $9.5 million for the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), an increase of $1 million; and $3.5 million for the Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP), an increase of $500,000. The bill can be found here. On July 14, the Appropriations Committee passed its Labor-HHS-Education bill. It provides a total of $49 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an increase of $6.5 billion. It also includes $3 billion to establish the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, known as ARPA-H. The bill also provides $1.6 billion, an increase of $341 million, for Bureau of Health Professions programs to support health workforce development. This legislation can be found here.
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Department of Education Staffing Up |
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The Department of Education continues to add staff, in particular at the office of Federal Student Aid (FSA). That reflects the commitment of the Administration to improve student loan servicing operations, among other things. The official press release and the names and roles of the new staffers can be found here. |
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CDC Updates Guidelines for Institutions of Higher Education and Covid-19 |
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On June 4, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new guidance for institutions of higher education related to fully vaccinated students and faculty returning to campus for fall classes. Among details, colleges and universities where all students, faculty and staff are fully vaccinated prior to the start of the semester can return to full capacity in-person learning without masks and social distancing protocol. The new guidance can be found here. |
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Proposed Rule Regarding Student Visa “Duration of Status” Policy |
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The Biden Administration withdrew a proposed rule that would have ended the “duration of status” policy for international student visas. The Trump Administration had issued the notice of proposed rulemaking, which would have meant that most international students would have had to reapply for a visa each year. The comments on the proposed rule were overwhelmingly negative. The official notice withdrawing the rule can be found here.
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AAVMC Announced Support for Several Pieces of Legislation
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The AAVMC has announced support for several pieces of important legislation. 1) S. 2114, the Student Assisted Vaccination Effort (SAVE) Act, which would ensure that health professions students, including those in veterinary medicine, would be able to administer vaccines with supervision at the outset of a federally declared public health emergency. The bill can be found here. 2) HR 3840, which would direct the National Science Foundation to establish a capacity building program for developing universities. This bill can be found here. 3) HR 3424, the Global Pandemic Prevention and Biosecurity Act, which would create a global zoonotic disease task force that would include veterinarians and colleges of veterinary medicine. The bill can be found here.
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VMLRPEA Re-introduced in the Senate |
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On June 28, the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act (VMLRPEA) was re-introduced in the United States Senate. This has been a priority of both AVMA and AAVMC for many years, and would make loans forgiven under the VMLRP tax free for veterinary graduates. Such loans are already tax free for most other health professions. The bill had already been introduced in the House, and can be found here. |
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AAVMC, APLU Gene Editing Task Force Releases Report |
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“A remodeling of the federal regulatory landscape is needed” in order for gene editing technology to boost agricultural productivity. That’s the conclusion of a panel of experts convened by the AAVMC and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) that spent the past 18 months studying the issue. The “AAVMC/APLU Gene Editing in Agriculture Task Force Report” suggests current regulatory protocols have not kept up with technological change and must be modernized in order for society to realize the many benefits of new scientific capabilities.
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Advocacy Letters
The AAVMC continues to work closely with a wide array of organizations that share our interests in supporting the advancement of academic veterinary medicine, food security and public health. The letters below reflect some of that recent activity.
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Please contact: AAVMC Governmental Affairs Director Kevin Cain at [email protected] or 202-371-9195 (ext. 117) with any comments, questions and suggestions about our program.
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AAVMC Newsletters
The AAVMC is working hard to create a culture of diversity and inclusion in every dimension of academic veterinary medicine. To foster this goal, the photographs and illustrations which are used in our communications programs are aspirational, and do not necessarily reflect the levels of diversity and inclusion that currently exist.
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Sign up here to receive FOCUS, a quarterly newsletter that examines prominent issues in academic veterinary medicine. See past issues here.
Sign up for our Advocacy newsletter here. Read past issues here.
Sign up for the newsletter of the Council on International Veterinary Medical Education (CIVME) here. Read past issues here.
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American Association of Veterinary
Medical Colleges
202-371-9195
655 K Street, NW, Suite 725
Washington, D.C., 20001
www.aavmc.org
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