News

On March 13, the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) hosted the 2024 edition of Capitol Hill Day, bringing scientists from all over the US to Washington DC to advocate for basic science funding. SfRBM was well-represented among the 46 participants - representing 130,000 scientists nationwide - who met with congressional leaders for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and other federal agencies supporting basic science research in 2025. Our delegation included Eric Kelley, FASEB's VP of Science Policy, Marcelo Bonini, FASEB's VP of DEIA and Patrick Pagano, FASEB Board Member.

The group asked that at least $51.3 billion be appropriated to NIH in addition to $16.7 billion for the NSF, $9.5 billion for the DOE Office of Science and 500 million for the USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. These numbers are higher than the President's budget for FY2025, but would significantly alleviate rising pressures federally funded investigators are facing with the increasing costs of both laboratory supplies and salaries. For the latter, it would be crucial as postdoctoral fellow salaries could increase after a penal of advisors to the NIH Director recommended NRSA postdocs are paid a minimum of $70,000/year nationally.

The overall FASEB delegation included scientists from 25 different states and also served to remind federal legislators that robust, predictable and sustained funding for basic science is critical to promote economic growth, improve health care and maintain America's leadership in science globally. "I think we did a very good job conveying the economic importance of research funding for the private sector as well as challenges we are facing and negative repercussions for academia long term," stated Pagano.