In Brief
Take Action: Apply Now for the Biophysical Society’s 2025–2026 Congressional Fellowship
Interested in using your science skills to inform science policy? Does spending a year working on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, helping develop policy sound exciting? The Biophysical Society’s Congressional Fellowship program is your opportunity to participate directly in the process of law-making that impacts how research is funded and regulated. This year-long opportunity provides Fellows a chance to utilize their science knowledge to inform the public policy process. Fellows will gain firsthand knowledge and experience on how Congress works and participate in the esteemed AAAS Science and Technology Fellows program that provides ongoing training and networking opportunities during the fellowship year and beyond. Visit the BPS Congressional Fellowship website for more details about the program or contact Leann Fox at [email protected] or (240) 290-5606. The application deadline is December 12, 2025.
Government Shutdown Continues While Leaving Economic Damage in Wake
The government shutdown is beginning to leave a deeper economic mark, with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimating that between $7 billion and $14 billion in economic output will be permanently lost. According to the analysis, real GDP growth could drop by one to two percentage points in the final quarter of the year as hundreds of thousands of federal workers go without pay. While much of that economic decline would recover once agencies reopen, CBO Director Phillip Swagel said the full impact will not be reversed, noting that delayed federal spending and reduced consumer activity will drag on the economy even after the shutdown ends.
The White House has redirected funds to pay certain federal employees at the Coast Guard, FBI, Secret Service, TSA, and border security agencies, even as many other workers remain unpaid. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said lawmakers should focus on ending the shutdown itself rather than the competing bills to fund programs piecemeal. The Senate remains 5 votes short of ending the shutdown and negotiations are tepid at best.
In related news, a California judge extended the block on the administration’s reduction-in-force (RIF) measures at various federal agencies.
BPS Partnership with FASEB Provides Access to New Advocacy Resources
Earlier this week, the Biophysical Society (BPS) announced a new affiliate partnership with the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). FASEB joins a strong network of BPS coalition partners that includes the American Institute of Physics (AIP), the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research, the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), the Energy Sciences Coalition (ESC), ResearchAmer!ca, the Engaging Scientists & Engineers in Policy (ESEP) Coalition, and the STEM Education Coalition. Much of BPS’s work with these coalitions takes place in Washington through policy and advocacy efforts, and members can see the results of these collaborations on the Government Policy Changes and BPS Actions and Resources webpage.
Through the new partnership with FASEB, BPS members gain access to a range of additional resources, including biweekly town hall meetings, federal funding fact sheets for states and congressional districts, science policy and advocacy training videos, and other policy tools. These materials can be accessed via the FASEB affiliate web portal using BPS credentials available to members on our Coalition Partners webpage and logging in with your member credentials.
More than 450 Organizations Urge Appropriators to Finalize NIH Funding
On October 27, BPS joined forces with more than 450 members of the Ad Hoc Group urged appropriators to finalize the fiscal year (FY) 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies spending bill with a robust investment in the National Institutes of Health. Specifically, the letter urges appropriators to provide no less than the Senate Appropriations Committee-approved level of $47.2 billion for NIH, in addition to funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The letter noted, “To ensure that funding supports the work of NIH effectively, it is imperative that Congress finalize the NIH funding level as quickly as possible; the bipartisan approach in S. 2587 both helps achieve that goal and upholds key attributes essential to the NIH’s success.”
Resources on Multi-Year Funding of NIH Awards
ACT for NIH, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit dedicated to increasing Federal biomedical research funding, has developed a new one-pager, explaining the Administration’s plan – first outlined in the FY 2026 President’s Budget – to significantly expand the use of multi-year awards at NIH. The resource outlines both the short-and long-term impacts of this policy on the number of awards the agency can make, success rates, support for researchers, and more. This new forward-funding mechanism will make NIH grants harder for researchers to get. To date the new approach has dropped funding rates for National Cancer Institute grants from around one in 10 applicants to one in 25.