Out, out red tape: Congress weighs bills to reduce regulatory burden on academic science
From: Science
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Alexander’s board would have outside members, and it would have the ability to form panels to carry out studies. But unlike the academy’s recommendation it would serve an advisory role with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Given the committee’s jurisdiction, however, the bill would only affect researchers funded by NIH and other agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services.
In the House of Representatives, last Friday Representative Daniel Lipinski (D–IL) introduced a stand-alone bill (H.R. 5583) that would also create a Research Policy Board. It would be housed within OMB, specifically, within its rulemaking arm called the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Although the federal membership on Lipinski’s board would be limited to representatives from NIH, NSF, and the Department of Defense, the board would be chaired by the president’s science adviser and an associate OIRA administrator for academic regulatory affairs, a position created to oversee the health of the federal-academic research partnership.
