2009-04-08

Prior to adjourning for a two-week district work period, the House and Senate each adopted their respective fiscal year 2010 budget resolutions, a blueprint that establishes budget totals for the fiscal year.

The House adopted its budget (H Con Res 85), which totals $3.55 trillion, by a vote of 233-196 with no Republicans voting for the proposal and 20 Democrats voting against it. The Senate’s vote on its version of the budget resolution (S Con Res 13), which totals $3.53 trillion, was 55-43 with no Republicans supporting the plan and two Democrats voting against the measure.

In late February, President Obama released his FY 2010 budget overview document, which provided a broad description of the Obama Administration's fiscal policies and major budgetary initiatives. Each chamber's Budget Resolution marks the next step in the annual budget and appropriations process and sets forth a budgetary blueprint which each appropriations subcommittee will use as a guideline in drafting their respective funding bills. Over the course of the next several months, the various House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees will begin the task of determining precise spending levels for federal programs and agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

ASH will be continuing its advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill during the FY 2010 budget debate; the Society and the biomedical research community are advocating for an increase in funding of at least 7 percent for NIH over the final FY 2009 level that Congress enacted earlier this year.

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