2010-07-28

The Senate Labor - Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee has approved its version of the fiscal year (FY) 2011 Labor - Health and Human Services - Education Appropriations bill.

The Subcommittee approved a draft spending bill, which would provide a total of $732 billion in funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education in FY 2011. Of that amount, $562.3 billion is mandatory spending and $169.6 billion is discretionary, including funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The draft bill recommends just over $32 billion for NIH, an amount approximately $1 billion (3.2 percent) over the final FY 2010 funding levels that were enacted in December of last year and equal to both President Obama's request and the amount contained in the House Subcommittee-approved bill. 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 Senate Appropriations Committee, which is tentatively scheduled to consider the bill on July 29, and by the full Senate. The House Appropriations Committee has not yet announced a timeframe for consideration of its version of the Labor-HHS bill, which was approved by the House Subcommittee on July 15. With a month-long district work period scheduled for August, it remains unlikely that the appropriations process will be completed by the start of the new fiscal year on October 1. As a result, 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 website. 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 website. 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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