Gil Ruiz is the Director of Government Affairs for the Federation of American Scientists. He previously served in the U.S. Senate for 9 years in various positions, and most recently as Legislative Director. Prior to that, Gil served as Senior Policy Advisor on issues pertaining to science, technology, homeland security, health, aging/disability, the arts, and more. Gil has crafted and executed on bold policy agendas, such as enactment of the $3 billion “Health Force” that created the first national community health workforce, the establishment of the “Cyber Service Academy” at the Department of Defense, and the bipartisan Bioeconomy Research and Development Act.
Gil graduated from Baylor University with a degree in Medical Humanities and is originally from Las Vegas, Nevada. He is passionate about the role of science and technology in society and the ways it can be deployed to make the world a better place. In his spare time, you can find him watching movies or overconsuming soccer content.
We came out of the longest shutdown in history and we are all worse for it. Who won the shutdown fight? It doesn’t matter – Americans lost. And there is a chance we run it all back again in a few short months.
One month of a government shutdown is in the books, but how many more months will (or can) it go? Congress is paralyzed, but there are a few spasms of activity around healthcare and the prospects of a continuing resolution to punt this fight out until January or later.
Getting into a shutdown is the easy part, getting out is much harder. Both sides will be looking to pin responsibility on each other, and the court of public opinion will have a major role to play as to who has the most leverage for getting us out.
Our Director of Government Affairs gives you the skinny on the latest from the Hill and White House – and what it means for S&T policy.
A lack of sustained federal funding, deteriorating research infrastructure and networks, restrictive immigration policies, and waning international collaboration are driving this erosion into a full-scale “American Brain Drain.”