2010-07-15
The
House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee approved its version of the fiscal
year (FY) 2011 Labor-Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations bill.
By a vote of 11-5, the Subcommittee approved
a draft spending bill that would provide a total of $738.7 billion for FY
2011. Of that amount, $562.3 billion is mandatory spending and $176.4
billion is discretionary, including funding for the National Institutes of
Health (NIH). The draft bill recommends just over $32 billion for NIH, an
amount equal to the President's
request, and approximately $1 billion (3.2 percent) over the final FY 2010 funding
levels that were enacted in December of last year. This falls short
of the $35 billion in funding ASH and the biomedical research community have
advocated for NIH in FY 2011.
The Subcommittee’s draft bill must still be
approved by the full House Appropriations Committee, which has not yet
announced a schedule to consider the bill, 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, meaning it is extremely
unlikely that the appropriations process will be completed by the start of the
fiscal year and Congress would have to implement what is known as a continuing
resolution that would simply fund the government at current levels to avoid a
government shut-down.
ASH will continue its advocacy efforts on
Capitol Hill during the FY 2011 budget debate and encourages all members to
visit the ASH Advocacy Center to join the Society’s
campaign to support increased funding for NIH. Your senators and representatives
need to hear from you about ensuring adequate NIH funding in FY 2011.
Additional information about the proposed FY
2011 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 2011 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.
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