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The Senate Appropriations Committee released its FY 2020 Labor, Heath and Human Services and Education report. The report includes language PAA advocates discussed with staff during PAA’s annual Advocacy Day meetings on Capitol Hill earlier this year and submitted regarding population research in both the NIA and NICHD sections. The language includes:

Population Research — NICHD has a clear mandate to support a robust research portfolio focusing on maternal and child health, the social determinants of health, and human development across the lifespan. Population research, now commonly termed ‘‘population science,’’ is cited explicitly in the Institute’s authorizing statute as a key tenant of the Institute’s broader mandate. Accordingly, over the decades, NICHD has supported innovative and influential population science initiatives, including: (1) large-scale longitudinal surveys, with population representative samples, such as the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health and Fragile Families and Child Well Being Study; (2) a nationwide network of population science research and training centers; and (3) numerous scientific research initiatives that have advanced our understanding of specific diseases and conditions, including obesity, autism, and maternal mortality, and, further, how socioeconomic and biological factors jointly determine human health. Given these significant scientific contributions, the Committee urges NICHD to reaffirm its commitment to supporting population research, as well as the NICHD Population Dynamics Branch, as part of its revised 2020– 2024 strategic plan.

Population Research — The Committee applauds NIA for supporting an innovative and productive population aging research portfolio. In particular, the Committee praises the Institute for sustaining its investment in demographic surveys, such as the Health and Retirement Survey and the National Health and Aging Trends Study, critical behavioral and social research infrastructure programs, such as the Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging and the Roybal Centers for Translational Research, and high priority research networks focused on topics such as the biodemography of aging, stress measurement, and early adversity and later life reversibility. These surveys, programs, and networks are instrumental to the NIA mission. In fiscal year 2020, the Committee urges NIA to pursue its plans to renew and expand the Demography and Economics of Aging Centers Program and to reaffirm the Institute’s commitment to supporting population aging research overall as part of its revised strategic directions document, Aging Well in the 21st Century: Strategic Directions for Research on Aging.