CSSP Advocacy in 2020

It would not be an understatement to say that 2020 has been an extraordinary year – in both positive and not so positive ways. We all have been affected by the pandemic, which illuminated the even greater need for strong advocacy for science. Based on that need, the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) was engaged in, created and supported a number of letters of support from the scientific community to both policy makers and Federal science agencies.

Here is a list of some of the activities in which CSSP participated:

• Letter to support inclusion of tax-exempt associations in the initial CARES Act as it related to event cancellations (March)
• American Institute of Physics (AIP) Letter addressing the impact of foreign workers on the US labor market, in response to the April 22 Executive Order restricting immigration. (April)
• AAAS response to the EPA supplemental ‘Secret Science’ Strengthening Transparency Rule (May)
• Research Investment to Spark the Economy Act (RISE Act) endorsement (June)
• Science Societies Letter in response to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) push to modify the exemption to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). The letter requested the exemption be withdrawn  (July)
• American Society for Microbiology (ASM), Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) - Support for scientific data (July)
• American Physiological Society (APS) letter in support of a NASEM study on the influence of systemic racism on academia (August)
• Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) Letter in support of an addition $3B to help restart research that had been halted due to the pandemic (September)
• The importance of Good Science as a Guide for Legislation: A letter drafted by CSSP’s Government and Public Affairs committee that was sent to both Presidential Campaigns (September) 

And here are some of the Requests for Information that we shared with our members so they could also participate:

• NSF has issued a Request for Information (RFI) on the Federal STEM Education Strategic Plan, Charting a Course For Success: America's Strategy for STEM Education. 
• National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH) has put out a Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit public comment to assist and guide the NLM in identifying new, and updating ongoing, efforts to implement the NLM Strategic Plan 2017-2027: A Platform for Biomedical Discovery and Data-Powered Health. 
• National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) on the Federal STEM Education Strategic Plan, Charting a Course For Success: America's Strategy for STEM Education. 

• Support to stop the current Administration from moving forward with policy changes that would remove the duration of status for any international students with visas from dozens of countries. Instead of being able to stay for the duration of their degree term, up to four years, they would have to leave the U.S. after two years.
  
  A request was sent out to ask for outreach to policymakers, letting them know individual, and organizational thoughts about this rule proposal and how it would impact community, colleagues, students, institutions, and others. The request was made to ask policymakers to submit a comment to the Federal Register. Comments by policymakers are among the most impactful.