Yesterday, January 26, President Obama stood in front of Congress to talk about jobs, the economy, education, and healthcare. His 68-minute speech focused on many things, but the topic of healthcare garnered significant attention. While Obama readily admits the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is not perfect, he is "not willing to...go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition."

Obama also put a heavy emphasis on reducing the deficit, which includes putting a freeze on annual domestic spending over the next five years. Medicare and Medicaid were targeted as programs that are the biggest contributors to the long-term deficit and therefore need to be ammended.

Watch the State of the Union in it's entirety.

Genetic Alliance and Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy need your help. Our goal is to change the world of genetic diseases, ultimately improving the lives of the individuals you love and represent. The issues we take on - from genetic testing to drug development to regulatory issues to policymaking - are complex and can be intimidating. Let us know how we can do a better job to help you understand these issues as well as the genetic disease landscape. Please join us via conference call to share your thoughts. To participate, email Sharon Terry at sterry@geneticalliance.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

Find out more about Genetic Alliance's policy priorities.

Today, January 27, and tomorrow, January 28, the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (SACHDNC) will hold its twenty-third Annual Meeting at the Renaissance Washington, DC, Dupont Circle Hotel. The meeting will address a variety of topics including healthcare reform and its implications on genetics, the efficacy of newborn screening from a family perspective, reports on the continued work of the Advisory Committee's subcommittees, and a reading of the Committee's Annual Report to Congress. Members of the public can present oral comments during the public comments period Friday afternoon.

DC is anticipating quite a snow storm, so please check the website if you plan on attending, as it may be postponed or rescheduled.

Find out more.

On Thursday, January 6, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a Transparency Initiative Report detailing nineteen action items and five draft proposals to improve transparency in industry. This report is a result of the FDA's Transparency Initiative launched in June 2009.

The FDA is soliciting public comment on the five draft proposals until March 6, 2011. After this date, the Transparency Task Force will recommend specific proposals to the Commissioner of the FDA for consideration.

Read a letter from the chair of the Task Force explaining why transparency is a focus at this time.

Read the complete Transparency Initiative.

Submit a comment.

On January 20, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation John Jay Rockefeller IV (D-WV) announced the Committee's 2011 legislative agenda. Priorities for the Committee include strengthening America's commitment to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and protecting consumer information and privacy on the Internet. Rockefeller states that he intends to not only complete a number of top priorities that he began in the 111th Congress, "but also take on a number of new challenges Americans are facing every day."

Access the press release.