That’s a Wrap for Hill Day!

By: Kimberli Faison
Thursday, March 29, 2018

Read a blog post from first-time Hill Day participant Neil Hanchard, MD, PhD, an American Society of Human Genetics Board Member.

FASEB brought 62 research advocates to Washington for the annual FASEB Capitol Hill Day on March 8. Attendees came from 32 states, representing 29 FASEB societies, making it the most robust Hill Day in the Federation’s history.

Participants met with 129 congressional offices (65 in the House, 64 in the Senate) to strongly urge legislators to complete fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget negotiations and to increase FY 2019 funding for scientific agencies. Advocates shared the newly released FASEB FY 2019 funding recommendations to make the agency “asks.”

During their meetings, researchers explained that predictable and sustained growth is vital for a healthy scientific enterprise:  the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was able to award more than 1,000 additional research project grants with the $2 billion increase the agency received in 2017. The FASEB delegation expressed gratitude for the NIH increases but pointed out that the National Science Foundation, despite the key role it plays in supporting both research and training, has not seen an increase in real dollars in 15 years.

Congressional offices were appreciative of updated FASEB state NIH and state summary factsheets (which will be available soon via the FASEB website, here). And this year, FASEB staff actively took Hill Day activities to social media, tweeting and posting and sharing the Congressional interactions with followers and member societies.

Check out Hill Day participants in action below. For more photos from Hill Day see #FASEBHillDay on Twitter and Facebook.