SUZANNE BENTZEL

On July 15 and September 9, I reached to the staff of Congressman Riley Moore and Congresswoman Miller to express WVUs support and sought their support for the bipartisan H.R. 4312 Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act that was introduced by Rep. Bilirakis (R-FL), Rep. Bynum (D-OR), Rep. Figures (D-AL) and leadership from the House Committees on Education and Workforce, Committee on Energy & Commerce, and Committee on the Judiciary

On September 5, I reached out to staff of Senators Capito and Justice to let them know that West Virginia University strongly supports Senators Barrasso and Hickenlooper's Mining School Act amendment to the FY 2026 NDAA, S. 2296, of which Senator Justice is a co-sponsor and asked for the Senators support of adding this bill to the Senate version of the NDAA.

On July 15 and September 9, I reached to the staff of Congressman Riley Moore and Congresswoman Miller to express WVUs support and sought their support for the bipartisan H.R. 4312 Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act that was introduced by Rep. Bilirakis (R-FL), Rep. Bynum (D-OR), Rep. Figures (D-AL) and leadership from the House Committees on Education and Workforce, Committee on Energy & Commerce, and Committee on the Judiciary

On September 5, I reached out to staff of Senators Capito and Justice to let them know that West Virginia University strongly supports Senators Barrasso and Hickenlooper's Mining School Act amendment to the FY 2026 NDAA, S. 2296, of which Senator Justice is a co-sponsor and asked for the Senators support of adding this bill to the Senate version of the NDAA.

As part of the FY 2026 appropriations process, WVU submitted requests with Members/staff of the WV Delegation about a number of high priority federal research and land-grant programs that provide the university and students with research and service resources to carry out our R-1 and Land Grant missions, as well as submitted congressionally directed spending requests. There are no FY 2026 bills/reports yet to provide.

WVU contacted offices of Congressman Riley Moore, and Senators Capito and Justice about provisions of concern in the House (HR 1) and Senate versions of the "One Big Beautiful Bill" aka the Tax bill that became PL 119-21. The primary concerns were related to the elimination of SNAP Ed, eliminations and revisions to student loan programs, and institutional accountability.

In preparation of the FY 2026 appropriations process, WVU shared information with Members/staff of the WV Delegation about a number of high priority federal research and land-grant programs that provide the university and students with research and service resources to carry out our R-1 and Land Grant missions. There are no FY 2026 bills/reports yet to provide.

WVU submitted letters to each Member of the WV Delegation to voice concerns about the impact of an NIH announcement to reduce indirect rates to 15%.

WVU contacted Congressman Riley Moore's staff to raise concerns about the impact of H.R. 1048, the Deterrent Act, on higher education reporting.

I tracked and answered questions posed by the staff of Senators Manchin and Capito related to West Virginia University's FY 2025 programmatic and Congressionally Directed Spending requests.

I helped arrange a call with Members of the Mining School Coalition and members of Senator Manchin's Energy and Natural Resources Committee and personal staff to share the coalition's support of S. 912, the Mining Schools Act.

I prepared and submitted West Virginia University's FY 2025 programmatic and Congressionally Directed Spending requests to Senator Shelley Moore Capito.

I emailed and participated in zoom calls with Senator Manchin's personal and Senate ENR Committee to express support, and offer help in advocacy, for the Mining School Act, S. 912, a bill which authorizes funding for a grant program for mining schools, including WVU, so that they can recruit and train the next generation of miners.

West Virginia University provided meeting space and officials participated discussion about WV priorities in a Farm Bill Roundtable discussion convened by Senators Shelley Moore Capito and John Boozman.

I prepared and submitted West Virginia University's FY 2025 programmatic and Congressionally Directed Spending requests to Senator Joe Manchin. I also arranged and participated in three fly-in meetings with members of the WV delegation about high priority FY 2025 programmatic appropriations requests.

I provided WVU's perspective about H.R. Treat and Reduced Obesity Act to the staff of Congressman Alex Mooney.

I provided follow up information as requested by the offices of U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito related to West Virginia University's Fiscal Year 2024 programmatic and Congressionally Directed Spending requests.

I contacted Congressman Alex Mooney's staff to register West Virginia University's concerns abou H.R. 5933, the DETTERRENT (Defending Education Transperency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions) Act, which would amend Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, lowering the reporting requirement on gifts and/or contracts entered into with any foreign source from the current level of $250,000 to $50,000, with some stricker thresholds for countries and entities of concern.

I provided follow up information as requested by the offices of U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito related to West Virginia University's Fiscal Year 2024 programmatic and Congressionally Directed Spending requests.

I submitted a letter from West Virginia University to Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Ranking Member, Senate Environment and Public Works, seeking the inclusion of report language in the next Water Resources Development Act that authorizes the Army Corp of Engineers to work with WVU on a number of water resources research areas.

I provided follow up information as requested by the offices of U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito related to West Virginia University's Fiscal Year 2024 programmatic and Congressionally Directed Spending requests.

I reached out to the Health LAs of U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito to seek the Senators' co-sponsorship of S. 1302, the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act. This bill would add 14,000 new Medicare-supported GME positions.

West Virginia University has provided feedback, as requested by the office of U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, on the Senator's and Senator Tommy Tuberville's draft Protecting Athletes, Schools, and Sports Act of 2023. This bill seeks a bipartisan solution on core college sports name, image, and likeness issues.

I helped to prepare and submitted West Virginia University's Fiscal Year 2024 programmatic and Congressionally Directed Spending requests to U.S. Senators Manchin and Capito as part of the annual appropriations process. The bills have not yet been marked up so there currently no bill numbers for any of the FY 2024 appropriations bills.

I advocated for the inclusion of the STREAM Act in the final FY 2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill.

I was in contact with the Health LAs of Senators Manchin and Capito about continued development of the Senate Finance Committee's comprehensive Mental Health bill and advocated for inclusion for a number of its provisions in the FY 2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill.

I lobbied staff of Senators Manchin and Capito in support of including science provisions, most especially those pertaining to the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, in the final version of the CHIPS and Science Act, P.L.117-167.

I provided follow up information to the staff of Senators Manchin and Capito relative to many of our FY 2023 Congressionally Directed Spending requests included in the FY 2023 Senate appropriations bills.

I requested that Senator Manchin led a WV delegation letter in support of the nomination of Dr. Clay Marsh to serve on the National Advisor Council for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Contact was made of the WV Delegation to advocate for the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research provisions in the S. 1260, the Un.S. Innovation and Competition Act as part of conference deliberations with H.R. 4521 COMPETES Act.

I provided follow up information to, and responded to any questions from, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito regarding WVU's FY 2023 programmatic and Congressionally Directed Spending requests.

Contact was made of the WV Delegation to advocate for the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research provisions in the S. 1260, the Un.S. Innovation and Competition Act as part of conference deliberations with H.R. 4521 COMPETES Act.

I developed and submitted WVU's FY 2023 programmatic and Congressionally Directed Spending requests to U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, and just programmatic requests to Congressman David McKinley and Congresswoman Carol Miller.

Contact was made of Senator Manchin and staff to advocate for issues of importance to higher education in the Build Back Back Reconciliation bill that is under consideration in the Senate.

No lobbying occured under this category for the 3rd Q of 2021 - I forgot to delete on the issue area.

Contact was made of Senators Manchin and Capito, as well as Congressman McKinley, to request that they consider signing a Dear Colleague letter to retain the highest level of investment possible for the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research programs in the final version of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S.1260).

Contact was made of Senators Manchin and Capito to advocate for funding for doubling of the Pell grant, higher education infrastructure, agriculture research infrastructure, a college completion fund, graduate medical education in the infrastructure bills being developed in the Senate.

I submitted West Virginia University's Fy 2022 federal research and student aid programmatic funding priorities, as well as congressional directed spending initiatives, to Senators Capito and Manchin for consideration as Congress works to formulate the FY 2022 appropriations bills.

Contact was made of Senators Manchin and Capito on improvements related to increasing investments in the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research program in what eventually became the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S.1260)>

Contact was made of Congressman McKinley's office to ask for support for inclusion of funding to support upgrades to WVU's PRT Stations in what eventually became H.R. 3684, the Invest in America Act.

I participated in a meeting with Senator Capito to discuss the number of bills that have been introduced related to Student Athletes' Name, Image, and Likeness including the Amateur Athletes Protection and Compensation Act and the College Athletes Bill of Rights, as well as those that had been introduced in the last sesson and are likely to be reintroduced such as the Collegiate Athlete and Compensation Rights Act, the Student Athlete Level Playing Field Act,

I submitted West Virginia University's Fy 2022 federal research funding priorities to Congressman David McKinley and Congresswoman Carol Miller for consideration as Congressional work to develop the FY 2022 appropriations bills will begin once the President's FY 2022 budget request is submitted.

Contact was made of Senator Manchin and staff asking that the Senator consider co-sponsoring Senator Wicker's Collegiate Athlete and Compensation Rights Act, which would permit student athletes to earn compensation for the use of their name, image, or likeness.

Followed up with WV Senators on a number of priority research programs requests in the FY 2021 appropriations cycle. None of the Senate FY 2021 appropriations bills had been marked up yet so they did not have numbers.

Made multiple contacts of WV's Senators Manchin and Capito regarding higher education institution and research funding needs in Senate draft versions of a COVID-19 Phase IV bill. The final COVID-19 relief bill was utlimately included in the FY 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

Made multiple contacts of the WV delegation regarding higher education institution and research funding needs as a result of COVID-19 in the House HEROES Act (H.R. 6800), the Senate HEALS Act (S. 4318), and the other Senate and House draft versions of a Phase IV bill.

Followed to WV Senators on a number of priority programs requests in the FY 2021 appropriations cycle. None of the Senate FY 2021 appropriations bills have been marked up yet so they don't have numbers.

Made multiple contacts of the West Virginia Delegation regarding higher education and research funding and legislative needs as a result of COVID-19 in the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136), the House Heroes Act (H.R. 6800), and the Senate's phase IV COVID supplemental relief bill which is currently under development.

Made contact of Cong. McKinley's office regarding the inclusion of a provision to support the Minerva Research Initiative in the House (H.R. 6395) FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. Made contact of Senator Manchin's office regarding the inclusion of a provision authorizing the Dept. of Energy Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research in the Senate (S.4049) NDAA.

I sought the WV delegation's support of provisions supporting higher education and health care issues in the CARES Act, Public Law 116-136.

I prepared WVU's FY 2021 appropriations requests to submit to each office of the WV delegation under the Agriculture, CJS, Labor-HHS, DOD, Interior, Energy and Water, and State, ForOps appropriations subcommittee accounts and followed up with in-person meetings with the staff of Senator Manchin and Capito. Bill numbers do not yet exist for the FY 2021 appropriations bills.

I continued to lobby the WV delegation members in support of federal funding for WVU's FY 2020 priority programs in the FY 2020 CJS, Labor-HHS, DOD, Interior, Energy and Water, and State, ForOps appropriations bills that were considered in two minibus bills, H.R. 1865 (Domestic Priorities and International Assistance and H.R. 1158 (National Security).

I contacted the health LAs of Senators Manchin and Capito, and Congressman McKinley to ask for their consideration in co-sponsoring H.R. 3414 and S. 2892, the Opioid Workforce Act. This bill would make available 1,000 new residency positions to hospitals that have, or are in the process of establishing, approved residency programs in addiction medicine, addiction psychiatry, or pain medicine.

At the request of House staff, I worked to develop several amendments to H.R. 2500, the House National Defense Authorization Act, for consideration by the Congressman of the 1st District of WV.

I contacted each office of the WV House delegation to seek their support of the passage of H.R. 3510, the WRRA Reauthorization Act.

I contacted each member of the WV delegation to ask for their co-sponsorship of H.R. 4019, the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act.

I lobbied the WV delegation offices for their possible co-sponsorship of the Expanding Capacity for Health Outcomes Act of 2019, which seeks to increase access to health care services in rural areas by expanding the use of technology based collaborative learning and capacity building models. The Senate bill is S. 1618. A House companion bill has yet to be introduced. I also lobbied the WV delegation for their potential co-sponsorship of S.427/H.R. 1058, the Autism Collaboration Accountability, Research, Education, and Support (CARES) Act which supports a number of programs that the WVU Center of Excellence for Disabilities administers for the State of WV.

Lobbied for stable or increased funding for federal research, higher education, and economic development programs of importance to WVU in the FY 2020 appropriations bills.

Lobbied for federal research and higher education programs of importance to WVU in the FY 2019 and 2020 appropriations bills.

No legislation, support for DOT BUILD Grant for MPRT.

Funding for Higher Education Programs and Research in the 2019 appropriations bills.

Funding for Higher Education Programs and Research in the 2019 appropriations bills.

Funding for Higher Education Programs and Research in the 2019 appropriations bills.

Funding for Higher Education Programs and Research in the 2018 and 2019 appropriations bills.

Funding for Higher Education Programs and Research in the 2018 appropriations bills.

Funding for Higher Education Programs and Research in the 2018 appropriations bills.

Funding for Higher Education Programs and Research in the 2018 appropriations bills.

Funding for Higher Education Programs and Research in the 2017 and 2018 appropriations bills.

Funding for Higher Education programs and Research in the 2017 appropriations bills.

Funding for Higher Education programs and Research in the 2017 appropriations bills.

Funding for Higher Education programs and Research in the 2017 appropriations bills.