Today, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES Act, a $3 trillion legislative package that would provide additional resources to manage and respond to COVID-19. The bill is an effort by House Democrats to advance their priorities for COVID-19 relief efforts. The legislation is expected to pass largely along party lines, but will include some Republicans voting in favor and some Democrats opposing the bill.

The bill includes approximately $26.7 billion for public higher education institutions through a State Fiscal Stabilization Fund and an additional $4.5 billion available for Governors to distribute between K-12 and higher education institutions as they deem necessary. Furthermore, the legislation includes up to $10,000 of loan forgiveness for federal and private student loan borrowers meeting certain requirements. The bill would provide $3 million in funding to the National Institutes of Health for offsetting the costs associated with reductions in lab productivity from COVID-19, however no other agencies would receive this type of funding relief despite strong support for emergency research relief among House members. Earlier this month, a House dear colleague letter was circulated urging support for $26 billion that could be used to fund research extensions, additional graduate students and post-doc fellowships, among other things. The letter, which co-led by Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI), was signed by 182 Members of the House of Representatives, representing more than one-third of the House.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already indicated that this legislation is "dead on arrival," suggesting it is very unlikely the HEROES Act will become law. McConnell has cited the bill's large price tag and the need to wait and see how legislative packages one, two, and three have unfolded to address the needs of citizens.

The American Council on Education (ACE) released a summary of the HEROES Act available here. The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) also released an analysis of the HEROES Act, available here. Inside Higher Ed has also published an article on the bill, available here. If you have any additional questions please reach out to Madeline Nykaza (mnykaza@umich.edu).

Three legislative funding packages aimed at addressing and responding to COVID-19 have been signed into law. The first package focused mostly on vaccine development and public health efforts. The second package focused on paid sick leave, testing, and expanding unemployment and food assistance benefits. The third package was aimed at assisting a wide range of entities, including hospitals, local governments, and individuals. 

Further information on the first three legislative packages is available here. Or reach out to Madeline Nykaza (mnykaza@umich.edu).

Research leadership across U-M have been developing guidelines for the safe reopening of research operations once the state of Michigan authorizes limited reopening. U-M plans to implement a phased approach to safely ramp up research, with the first re-engagement phase applying only to those involved in experimental laboratory research and studio-based research, along with some locally based, non-human-subjects field research.

Important University of Michigan specific COVID-19 updates are available on the U-M COVID-19 page here. This page is being continually updated to reflect the most up-to-date information. Included in the campus response is an update on benefits and changes to the University research operation.

For a full list of guidance from federal research agency sponsors, including the Center for Disease Control, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Office of Management and Budget, please visit the U-M Office of Research COVID-19 website.

 

On Sunday, the National Science Foundation celebrated its 70th anniversary. Throughout the week, institutions and individuals have been highlighting the ways that NSF has impacted them, using #NSF70 and #NSFstory on social media. The U-M DC office shared the following infographic featuring a sample of ten NSF projects at U-M. 
 

We are proud to feature U-M faculty and staff who are serving on a Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) in our weekly newsletter. Through FACs, faculty and staff live out U-M’s mission to serve the state, nation, and world by applying their knowledge and expertise to help shape and inform national policy. If you are currently serving on a FAC, or have recently been selected to serve, please let Kristina or David know.

This month, we are featuring Dr. Vineet Chopra, Chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine and a tenured Associate Professor of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Chopra serves on the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC). This committee provides advice and guidance to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the practice of infection control, including strategies for surveillance, prevention, and control of antimicrobial resistance in United States healthcare settings.

Dr. Chopra is the only hospitalist on this committee that includes 14 voting members from infectious diseases, healthcare epidemiology, infection prevention, surgery and geriatrics, among others. He has contributed towards the goal of HICPAC by providing insight on concerns and barriers related to infection prevention often encountered by frontline clinical providers. In addition, Chopra is an expert in the field of patient safety with a specific emphasis on preventing complications related to intravenous catheters. He has led HICPAC efforts in improving the science and safety of these devices and how they should be used and cared for in healthcare settings. He led the committees efforts to define how products related to infection prevention would be reviewed for inclusion in guidelines and has currently been tasked to serve as one of two HICPAC leads on guidelines to prevent bloodstream infection related to intravenous devices. Chopra's work has been featured in top tier medical journals including the Lancet, British Medical Journal, Annals of Internal Medicine and JAMA.

To learn more about Dr. Chopra's background and research areas, please click here.