2008-12-18

ASH has joined with the biomedical research community in urging President-elect Obama’s transition team and congressional leaders to include an additional $1.2 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in an economic recovery package that is expected to be considered during the beginning of the 111th Congress in January.  Read the joint letter ASH and the research community have sent to the Obama transition team seeking additional funding for NIH. This important funding would build upon the $150 million in additional fiscal year 2008 funding for NIH that congressional supporters were able to secure earlier this year and would represent an important step towards reversing NIH's current downward funding trend, setting it on a new course.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) introduced a $100.3 billion economic recovery package in November that included $1 billion for NIH. The Senate had hoped to vote on this legislation quickly but opposition by Republicans delayed consideration of an economic recover package until January.