Dems, GOP at odds over Biden's proposed science agency ...

Link CopiedBipartisan support for one of President Joe Biden’s pet health projects is crumbling as Republicans home in on spending and Democrats split over its structure.Emerging resistance to Biden’s idea of a multibillion-dollar new agency to tackle some of health care’s biggest challenges reflects a widening gap over what used to be a cross-party island in a divisive sea — funding medical research.And an already adversarial tone among many Republicans critical of top federal scientists like Anthony Fauci was amplified by the sudden recent departure of Biden’s close science adviser, Eric Lander, a champion of the president’s research initiative. Democrats also are having internal disputes about where the new agency should live, renewing a debate from last year that could extend the timeline for finalizing legislation to create ARPA-H.Senate HELP Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) “is in ongoing negotiations” with Ranking Member Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) “on authorizing language for the ARPA-H proposal, including where the agency should be housed,” a Democratic committee aide said.In conversations with POLITICO, Democrats sought to downplay divisions over the NIH dispute.“I think that the issue of where it is housed ... But while DeGette and Upton work with House Energy and Commerce Health Chair Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) to reconcile their bill with hers making ARPA-H a standalone agency under the Department of Health and Human Services, senators refuse to publicly say where they stand.“It seems like there’s a lot of different ideas as to what might be accomplished,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who is teed up to lead the Energy and Commerce Committee if the House flips to Republican control, said. Others in the party point to what’s been dubbed a “culture problem” at the agency where grants move slowly and in limited circles of scientists, potentially shutting out new and innovative work.“Don’t punish the patients because the NIH needs reforming,” said Suzanne Wright Foundation’s Liz Feld, whose cancer research group has long pushed for an ARPA-H vision.