The AAMC joined a coalition of national medical societies in a letter urging leadership of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees (HASC/SASC), as they engage in conference negotiations, to address Military Health System staffing shortages (PDF) in the fiscal year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including extending the pause on medical billet reductions, advancing a Department of Defense-Department of Veterans Affairs graduate medical education partnership demonstration, and other items.
Separately, the AAMC joined higher education associations in a letter to HASC and SASC leadership (PDF) supporting provisions that include extending restrictions on DOD-funded research with “foreign institutions engaging in problematic activity” and preserving the current facilities and administrative cost structure at the department. Additionally, the letter opposed the inclusion of the SAFE Research Act (PDF), advanced as part of the House-passed NDAA (H.R. 3838), which would place new restrictions and prohibitions on research collaborations with Chinese universities. The letter stated the legislation is “problematically broad as well as duplicative of existing requirements” and “conflicts with existing research security provisions supported by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees in previous NDAAs.” The SAFE Research Act was not included in the Senate-passed NDAA (S. 2296).