Featured News

 

FY 2023 Spending Deal in Sight?
The federal government is scheduled to run out of money unless Congress acts by Friday, December 16 when the current continuing resolution (CR) will expire. Lawmakers have been working since returning from the midterm elections to strike a deal on top-line funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2023. However, debates over how to divvy up limited resources between defense and non-defense accounts coupled with the incoming Republican takeover in the House come January have made progress slow. Still, lawmakers could announce as early as today a framework that will allow them to proceed on a large omnibus spending package and pass it before the end of the year. To accommodate this, another weeklong CR will need to be enacted through December 23.

While any progress toward completing the FY 2023 process is good news, spending details within it are still unknown. Democrats and Republicans remain billions of dollars apart on their proposals for non-defense spending, while defense is on track to receive a 10 percent increase in 2023.

COSSA will provide an in-depth analysis of the final FY 2023 bills and what they mean for social science research in the weeks to come. In the meantime, you can review the current FY 2023 funding proposals on our website.

 

New from COSSA

 

“Why Social Science” Discusses the Science Behind Elections and Polling
This month’s Why Social Science? post comes from Kathy Frankovic, former Director of Surveys at CBS News and former President of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), who writes about the science behind public opinion polling and its role in predicting the outcome of elections. Read it here and subscribe.

 

COSSA Seeks Undergraduate Intern for Spring 2023
COSSA is now searching for candidates for a Spring intern. This internship would be of interest to undergraduate students wishing to learn about advocacy/government relations, federal science policy, and/or non-profit organizations. We are accepting applications on a rolling basis and preference will go towards applicants who are available to work hybrid to prepare for in-person activities for 2023 Social Science Advocacy Day. If you know an undergraduate student who may be interested in a COSSA internship for Spring semester, please email Ben Goodrich (bgoodrich@cossa.org). More information about the internship is available in the description.

 

Congressional News

 

Congress to Consider Standing Up Advanced Research Efforts in USDA
On December 6, the Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing to discuss potential research related provisions that may become part of the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill – the critical agriculture bill re-authorized every five years. Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics (REE) at the Department of Agriculture Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young was a witness for the hearing. Notably, Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR), and several bipartisan Members of the Committee were particularly interested in discussing the possibility of appropriating funds for an Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AgARDA), a high-risk, high-reward research agency within the USDA modeled after the highly influential and popular “ARPA-style” agencies such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). AgARDA, which was authorized in the 2018 iteration of the Farm Bill, has not yet been formally established due to lack of meaningful appropriations in Congress. Dr. Jacobs-Young remarked that there would be an implementation plan released early in 2023 on how to stand up the agency if it were to be given appropriations for fiscal year (FY) 2023. A recording of the hearing and witness testimonies are available on the Committee website.

 

 

Executive Branch News

 

The U.S. Global Change Research Program Releases their 2022–2031 Strategic Plan
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) released it’s 2022-2031 Strategic Plan on December 6. USGCRP is an interagency effort that works to identify and coordinate research activities related to global climate change and other issues across the federal government. The plan includes four pillars to guide it’s work over the next decade:

  1. Advancing Science: Focuses on engaging with the public and specifically calls on integrating social science into research, including studying how global change affects individual groups differently.
  2. Engaging the Nation: Focuses on improving assessments and improving public understanding of environmental issues, with an emphasis on climate change.
  3. Informing Decisions: Focuses on strategic planning and sharing to help inform policies.
  4. Collaborating Internationally: Focuses on sharing research with other nations, with an emphasis on providing multilingual documentation to make the research more accessible.

 

The full strategic plan is available here.

 

Federal Statistical Agencies Launch Standard Application Process for Accessing Restricted Federal Data
The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation and the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP) have launched a Standard Application Process (SAP) to improve access to restricted federal data. As previously reported, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 called for the development of a process to provide streamlined access to confidential federal data. The recently announced SAP was developed in response to this directive. The agencies released an Applicant Instruction Manual for the process and are available for questions or comments at singleportal@nsf.gov.

 

The Bureau of Economic Analysis Appoints Dr. Vipin Arora as Director
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has named Dr. Vipin Arora as their new Director, replacing Brian Moyer after he accepted the role of Director of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Arora previously has served as Deputy Assistant Director of the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Deputy Director of the NSF’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. Dr. Arora has a PhD in economics, a master’s degree in public administration, and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.

 

 

Editor’s Note

 

Update Returning on January 10
This is our final issue of the COSSA Washington Update of 2022. Late-breaking news and analysis will be shared with members subscribed to our members-only emails. We will resume our ongoing coverage of policy developments affecting the social and behavioral sciences on January 10. The COSSA team wishes all of our readers a happy and healthy holiday season.

 

Resources & Opportunities

 

Nomination Opportunities

 

Funding Opportunities

 

Requests for Comment & Calls for Papers

 

Notices, Resources, & Reports

 

Open Positions, Fellowships, & Professional Development Opportunities

 

Upcoming Events

 

A list of COSSA members’ annual meetings and other events can be found on the COSSA events page. COSSA members who have an upcoming event they would like to see listed in the Events Calendar and on our website should send an email to bgoodrich@cossa.org.

 

 

COSSA Members

 

Governing Associations

 

American Anthropological Association

American Association for Public Opinion

Research

American Economic Association

American Educational Research Association

American Political Science Association

American Psychological Association

American Society of Criminology

American Sociological Association

American Statistical Association

Law and Society Association

Linguistic Society of America

Midwest Political Science Association

Population Association of America

Society for Personality and Social

Psychology

Society for Research in Child Development

 

Membership Organizations

 

Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences

African Studies Association

American Association of Geographers

American Council of Learned Societies

American Evaluation Association

American Historical Association

Association for Behavioral and Cognitive

Therapies

Association for Public Policy Analysis and

Management

Association of Academic Survey Research

Organizations

Association of American Law Schools

Association of Research Libraries

Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences

Division for Research of the Council for

Exceptional Children

Economic History Association

History of Science Society

Midwest Sociological Society

National Association of Social Workers

National Communication Association

National Council on Family Relations

Rural Sociological Society

Social Science History Association

Society for Personality Assessment

Society for Prevention Research

Society for Research on Adolescence

Society for Social Work and Research

Society for the Psychological Study of

Social Issues

Southern Political Science Association

Southwestern Social Science Association

 

Affiliates

 

SAGE Publishing

Wiley

Colleges and Universities

 

Boston University

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Pennsylvania State University

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Virginia Tech

Yale University

 

Centers and Institutes

 

American Academy of Political and Social Science

Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences

Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

Institute for Social Science Research,

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

NORC at the University of Chicago

RTI International

Social Science Research Council

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