AAU: Troubling Provisions Could Reemerge During Congressional Negotiations
Although a continuing resolution is now in place that funds the federal government through Feb. 18, 2022, committees are still working on bills that could contain provisions onerous to universities, the Association of American Universities (AAU) warned in its most recent weekly newsletter. AAU officials noted that some bills being debated have eliminated provisions requiring contractors for the Department of Defense (DOD) to “publicly available all diversity, equity, and inclusion training materials, internal policies, and other educational or professional materials ‘for review and identification of Critical Race Theory,’” which AAU and other groups oppose.
AAU also reported that “not included in the final [appropriations] bill are measures related to increased cyber incident reporting requirements; prohibitions on the participation of federally funded researchers in malign foreign talent recruitment programs; and the creation of a new pilot program to vet researchers working on non-classified research.” Still, these provisions could be “considered during conference negotiations on other legislation,” AAU said, such as the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, National Science Foundation for the Future Act, the Department of Energy’s Science for the Future Act, and the fiscal year 2022 Intelligence Authorization Act.