2009-07-13
The House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee approved its version
of the fiscal year (FY) 2010 Labor-Health and Human Services-Education
Appropriations bill on July 10.
The draft bill includes $30.967 billion for NIH, an increase of $500 million over the President's request, and $942 million over final FY 2009 funding
levels. Although this falls short of the 7 percent increase ASH has
supported for NIH in FY 2010, the Society and the biomedical research
community have expressed appreciation to House Labor-HHS Appropriations
Subcommittee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) and Ranking Member Todd Tiahrt
(R-KS) for recognizing NIH as a significant priority and including
funding exceeding the President’s request despite considerable budget
restraints.
The Obama Administration’s budget overview that was released in
February also called for a set aside of “over $6 billion within NIH to
support cancer research.” However, in his opening remarks
at the Subcommittee markup, House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee
Chairman David Obey (D-WI), noted that the Subcommittee would continue
to not allocate funding for specific disease research and is "rejecting
the Administration's targeted funding approach and ensuring that all
institutes and centers receive funding to offset biomedical research
inflation."
The draft bill must still be approved by the full House
Appropriations Committee, which is tentatively expected to consider the
bill on July 17, and by the full U.S. House of Representatives. The
Senate has not yet announced a timeframe for consideration of its
version of the Labor-HHS bill.
It is crucial to continue to contact your senators and
representative to generate their interest in supporting FY 2010 NIH
funding. ASH will continue its advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill during
the FY 2010 budget debate and encourages all members to visit the ASH Advocacy Center
to take action to help influence the budget process and support
increased funding for NIH. Your senators and representative need to
hear from you about ensuring adequate NIH funding in FY 2010.
Additional information about the proposed FY 2010 budget is available on the ASH Web site.
ASH will also continue to keep its membership informed about each step
in the debate toward the completion of the FY 2010 federal budget, with
frequent updates posted on the Society's Web site. In the meantime, if
you have questions, please contact ASH Research Advocacy Manager Tracy
Roades at 202-776-0544 or troades@hematology.org.
back to top
