New England Council lobbies for new federal agency
By Jon Chesto, Boston Globe
The New England Council this week lobbied Biden administration officials to convince them to locate the newly formed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health in New England. The council’s letter, dated Monday, emphasized the region’s top-notch medical, education, and research facilities, the local talent pool, and the high volume of National Institutes of Health funding that already flows into the region. While the council has also supported an effort to locate ARPA-H in Massachusetts, this letter references New England more generally and does not specify a particular state. The letter was sent from council chief executive Jim Brett to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, ARPA-H head Renee Wegrzyn, and Arati Prabhakar, the director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.