Before heading into their summer recess, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced three fiscal year (FY) 2022 spending legislation, namely the bills for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; Energy and Water Development; and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies.

The U.S. Senate has voted 69-30 to pass an historic bipartisan infrastructure bill containing billions for climate resilience and public transit.

AIBS will convene the 2021 meeting of its Council of Member Societies and Organizations on November 4-5, 2021. This meeting will engage like-minded organizations committed to increasing diversity in the biological sciences in a two-day virtual conference.

The August 2021 issue of BioScience is now available on the Oxford University Press website.

The Public Policy Report has been released. The report provides analysis and communication on important issues in the scientific community.

The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology recently advanced several bipartisan science and technology policy legislation, including a reauthorization bill for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

On July 29, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an appropriations package or ‘minibus’ containing seven spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2022, including the bills that fund the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Energy and Agriculture Departments.

AIBS has received an award from NSF under its LEAPS program to support the development of a diversity conference that will engage and create a collaborative network of majority- and minority-serving biological scientific societies to foster cultural change.

AIBS has provided input to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on improving federal scientific integrity policies.

A coalition of scientific organizations have sent a letter to Dr. Eric Lander congratulating him on his confirmation to the position of OSTP Director and offering their assistance.