Advocacy in Action

Congress Grapples with Passing Funding Bills; Endocrine Society Advocates to Protect NIH

Although last week the Congress was able finally to reopen the federal government, it still must pass remaining nine funding bills for fiscal year (FY) 2026 by January 30 or face another shutdown. This week, Senate and House Appropriations Committee leaders met to discuss the path forward. Republican leaders agreed it would be best to move the less complicated and small funding bills before Christmas and push the major bills, including Labor-HHS-Education (which funding the National Institutes of Health) and Defense, into early next year.

The Endocrine Society advocated for Congress to reopen the Federal Government and protect NIH Funding. We will continue to push for a full-year funding bill that includes a $400 million increase in funding for NIH, consistent with a version advanced by the Senate earlier this year. We encourage members to join our new, updated NIH campaign to maintain pressure on Congress.

Society Advocates for Policy Priorities During AMA Interim Meeting

This week, Endocrine Society members attended the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates meeting and successfully advocated for issues important to endocrinology, including access to invitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, diabetes, and obesity. The AMA House of Delegates, which is the legislative and policy-making body of the AMA, meets twice a year to consider changes to AMA policy. A special thanks to our delegates, Amanda Bell, Barbara Onumah, Naykky Singh Ospina, Daniel Spratt, and Salwa Zahalka for attending the AMA meeting and representing the Society.

We worked with the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) to co-author a resolution to oppose efforts to limit access to fertility care. The resolution, which passed the House of Delegates, highlighted legislative efforts at the state and federal level that have sought to codify restorative reproductive medicine (RRM). RRM is a selective rebranding of certain medical practices in ways that mislead patients and threaten access to appropriate fertility care. The new policy affirms that many of the practices described as RRM are already integral to evidence-based fertility care provided by reproductive endocrinologists, urologists, and other fertility specialists. The resolution also calls for increased NIH funding for women’s health and reproductive health research to expand understanding of infertility and its underlying causes.

The Society also successfully advocated for the passage of resolutions that focus on reducing the onset of chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes and the need for the AMA to support legislation to protect physicians from being disqualified from medical licensure due to providing services for access to care.

OECD Hosts Webinar on New Guidance, Features EDCs

On November 14, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conducted a webinar to provide information for researchers and regulators following the release of their new Guidance Document “on the Generation, Reporting and Use of Research Data for Regulatory Assessments.” The webinar was intended to describe the rationale for developing the guidance and provide information on the case studies that demonstrate the utility of the recommendations in the document. One of the case studies was on endocrine disruptors and may be of particular interest to our members. Endocrine Society members Scott Belcher, PhD, and Laura Vandenberg, PhD, were members of the OECD Expert Group that led the development of this important guidance document. We encourage interested members to watch the recording of the webinar for insights on how this guidance could be applied to their work.