Fall 2022
Passage of a Continuing Resolution
Lawmakers have issued a Passage of a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the federal government funded through Dec. 16th at current levels.

This bill will keep the US government open and funded until after the election, when we expect that Congress will return to complete the appropriations process for FY 2023.
Spousal Student Loan legislation signed into law 

On Sept. 21, the House passed the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act. The bill had already passed the Senate, and has been signed into law by President Biden. The bill would allow spouses who had combined their federal student loans to split them again, in cases of divorce or domestic abuse. AAVMC has been supportive of this legislation. Learn more about this legislation here.
Student Loans
On August 24, the Biden Administration announced the largest student debt forgiveness program in history. The program provides up to $20,000 in debt cancellation to Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 for non-Pell Grant recipients. It also proposes a new type of income-driven repayment plan. The White House fact sheet can be found here.
Pet Week on Capitol Hill
AAVMC was proud to be a sponsor of Pet Week again this year, including the first in-person Pet Night reception since 2019. The event took place in the Rayburn Cafeteria on the House side of Capitol Hill, Wednesday September 21st. More information about Pet Week can be found here.
Joint Hill Day with FASEB (the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) on Animals in Research
On Sept. 20th, AAVMC partnered with FASEB on a full day of meetings with key Members of Congress and their staff, to discuss the continued importance of animals in biomedical research. Four teams made 16 meetings on Capitol Hill, in an effort to educate and inform Members of Congress as they make important decisions around funding for animals used in research. This was in response to several recent efforts to ban research using dogs, cats and other animals completely, or to drastically restrict funding for such research. The group reminded Members and staff that we would not have Covid vaccines and many other innovations without animal research
NIAMRRE Meetings with Key Appropriators

On September 14th-15th, Kevin Cain joined the team from NIAMRRE for two days of meetings with key appropriations staff in both the House and Senate, as well as staff for Members with an interest in antimicrobial resistant bacteria and in One Health. The meetings were in support of additional, ongoing funding for the AMR dashboard, as well as authorization language in the upcoming Farm Bill for the dashboard. The dashboard has been funded to date through earmarks, and is based at NIAMRRE.

NIAMRRE is hosted on the campus of Iowa State University, and was created as a result of the Joint Task Force on AMR between AAVMC and the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU). 
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.
AAVMC Government Affairs

Please contact: Kevin Cain, Director for Government Affairs at [email protected] or 202-371-9195 (ext. 117) with any comments, questions and suggestions about our program.
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.

Sign up to receive the Vet-Med Educator in your inbox here. See past issues here. 
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.
American Association of Veterinary
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