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Van Hollen, Markey, Tillis, Senators Call for $26 Billion in Next Coronavirus Relief Package to Support Research Workforce

Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) were joined by 30 of their Senate colleagues today in advocating for protections for the U.S. scientific research community during the coronavirus pandemic. Although coronavirus-related research is a current federal government priority, most other research has slowed or stopped due to closures of campuses and laboratories. The people who comprise the research workforce – graduate students, postdocs, principal investigators, and technical support staff – face financial and other hardships from the disruption of their research activities. The Senators are calling for $26 billion in emergency relief funding for the research community in the next coronavirus relief package.

“Research universities, academic medical centers, and national labs are major employers in all 50 states, and protecting the research workforce is critical to state economies,” write the Senators in their letter to Senate leadership. “Congress must act to preserve our current scientific workforce and ensure that the U.S. is prepared to continue our global scientific leadership once this crisis ends.”

The full text of the letter is available here.

In their letter, the Senators specifically call for funding in the next relief package to:

  • Cover supplements for research grants and contracts caused by the pandemic, including additional salary support and/or research related ramp-up costs;
  • Provide emergency relief to sustain research support personnel and base operating costs for core research facilities and user-funded research services until such time as facilities reopen and research activities return to pre-pandemic activity levels; and
  • Fund additional graduate student and postdoc fellowships, traineeships, and research assistantships for up to two years. Graduate students who could not complete their degrees due to the pandemic should be given priority for graduate fellowships and other forms of support so they can complete their research and degrees.

Other Senators signing the letter include Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Dick  Durbin (D-Ill.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-Penn.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Angus King (I-Maine). 

This effort has been endorsed by the Association of American Universities (AAU), American Council on Education (ACE), Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), Association of American Medical Colleges, Union of Concerned Scientists, ACT for NIH, Alzheimer's Association, American Association for Cancer Research, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), American Geophysical Union, American Lung Association, American Mathematical Society, American Meteorological Society, American Chemical Society, American Physical Society, American Physiological Society, American Society for Cell Biology, American Society for Microbiology, Association of Independent Research Institutes, Autism Speaks, Coalition for the Life Sciences, EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases, Friends of Cancer Research, Geological Society of America , JDRF, Research!America, Society for Neuroscience, and dozens more.