Via the American Geophysical Union:
A piece of legislation currently being reviewed in Congress aims to severely limit federal employees from participating in conferences, including non-governmental scientific meetings like the AGU Fall Meeting. The 21st Century Postal Services Act (S. 1789) (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s1789es/pdf/BILLS-112s1789es.pdf) passed the Senate back in April and is likely to move quickly in the House during the lame duck session because of serious financial issues addressed in the bill. While the majority of the bill strives to improve and transform the U.S. Postal Service, section 501 (S. AMDT 2060) of the bill will severely affect the sharing of scientific research and genesis of potentially transformative ideas. Despite the gains AGU members and AGU Public Affairs have made over the last 6 months in educating Members of Congress on the harm section 501 would have on the scientific process and Earth and space science community, the rushed nature of postal reform could allow the provision to pass in the final days of this Congress. A very important means by which progress is made in scientific research is in the exchange of ideas that takes place at scientific meetings and conferences. At these events, scientists from academia, industry, and government, as well as students studying to become scientists, come together to formally present and discuss their research and learn about research by others that may have implications for their work. This exchange of ideas and review of results is integral to scientific integrity and the scientific process. 1. Contact Your Legislator. Section 501 (S. AMDT 2060) of the 21st Century Postal Services Act (S.1789) (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s1789es/pdf/BILLS-112s1789es.pdf) , passed by the Senate and awaiting action in the House, would severely restrict the participation of Federal government scientists in scientific meetings and conferences. Click the Take Action links below to email your legislators and ask them to allow Federal employees to continue to participate in non-governmental scientific conferences by amending the language in S. AMDT 2060 in the "Postal Act." After clicking on the links and then clicking "take action", you will find "Speaking Points" you may wish to include in your email. Take Action by contacting your Representative. (http://bit.ly/M9Uu6C) Take Action by contacting your Senator. (http://bit.ly/M9Uu6C) 2. Share Examples with AGU. In an effort to convey to lawmakers the importance of government scientists' participation in scientific meetings, AGU is asking for its members to share examples of societally-relevant scientific work resulting from collaboration between government and academic and/or industry scientists at AGU meetings. Please send your stories to the AGU Public Affairs Team at [email protected]. You may also include these examples when contacting OMB and your legislators. ***Please note that Federal employees are not permitted to contact OMB nor their Representative or Senators regarding this issue but are encouraged to share this information with their colleagues outside government*** Please contact AGU Public Affairs staff at [email protected] if you have any questions regarding this issue. For assistance on how to find and contact your Congressional Representative, please visit the AGU Science Policy webpage (http://www.agu.org/sci_pol/).
