Year in Review: ASPET’s Government Affairs and Science Policy
2025 has been a transformative year for the science community. It changed and reshaped much of how we engage with policy and advocacy in ways that will live through the annals of time. The fluctuations and drastic changes in policies on the federal level have been chaotic and disruptive, and ASPET’s Government Affairs & Science Policy staff could not have predicted how much this year would change science advocacy and our role in it. Despite that, we are grateful to the pharmacology community and the support ASPET members have provided as we navigate these challenging times together. As the professional home for pharmacology, we are committed to helping you advance the science of drugs and therapeutics to accelerate the discovery of cures for disease and, at the year’s end, we reflect on the wins, challenges, and growing opportunities for ASPET’s science policy and advocacy.
We began the year calling on Congress to complete FY2025 funding and to provide funding for the FY2026 appropriation bills at the appropriate levels. Dedicated science funding is a hallmark of ASPET’s advocacy efforts. Over 125 ASPET members sent 381 messages to Congress, adding their voices to the chorus to fund science.
Then came the funding freezes and cancellation of grants administered by NIH and many other agencies. ASPET responded by joining hundreds of other scientific membership societies in calling on Congress and the Administration to end the freezes and reinstate canceled grants. Those efforts continue to restore funding and push Congress to exercise its oversight of the NIH and other agencies’ spending.
Soon after, NIH launched a tidal wave with its Supplemental Guidance on Facilities and Administrative Costs, which effectively capped costs at 15%. ASPET members and the scientific community responded by sending letters to Congress and the Administration. Over 108 members participated in this email campaign, sending 322 messages to members of congress. While the policy remains in the courts, there is still work to be done. ASPET partnered with the Joint Association Group this fall to host a townhall and educate ASPET members on the Financial Accountability in Research (FAIR) Model. The model is a new approach to indirect cost recovery, or facilities and administrative (F&A) costs, developed by the research community in collaboration with government leaders.
Over 45 members attended the town hall, making it one of the most widely attended town halls this year.
A few months after the Facilities and Administrative Costs Supplemental Guidance, NIH launched its Initiative to Prioritize Human-Based Research. This initiative aims to reduce use of animals in NIH-funded research. ASPET joined with the People for Effective and Ethical Research (PEER) and attended its Hill Day in the fall to educate members of congress on the importance of using animals in biomedical research and the future of novel alternative models (you can read more about this in the last issue of The Pharmacologist).
When it comes to engagement with congress, ASPET staff and members have attended over 80 congressional meetings this year with Congress members and their staff. Those meetings were part of multiple Hill Days, including ASPET’s Washington Fellow Program, the Coalition for Health Funding (CHF), the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), the Rally for Medical Research, and the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). These visits are an important part of ASPET’s advocacy efforts, as they build relationships with congressional offices and provide congressional staffers with perspectives from the pharmacology and science communities.
We thank you for your tremendous support throughout the year–we could not do this without you! We are looking forward to continuing to support the pharmacology community in the coming year, expanding our advocacy efforts to meet the moment, and ensuring the voices of our community are heard and included in policy-making decisions.