FY 2008 NIH Appropriations Update

June 27, 2007 – Congress is continuing the process of drafting the bills that will fund federal departments, agencies, and programs for fiscal year (FY) 2008.

On June 7, the House Labor, Health, and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee began drafting its version of the FY 2008 Labor-HHS spending bill. The House version of the bill provides $29.65 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an increase of $750 million (2.6 percent) above the FY 2007 funding level and $1.029 billion (3.6 percent) above President Bush’s FY 2008 request. Taking into account the proposed transfer of $300 million from NIH in FY 2008 to the Global HIV/AIDS Fund, the net increase proposed by the House for the NIH budget in its draft bill is $549 million (1.9 percent) over FY 2007.

Similarly, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY 2008 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill on June 21. The Senate version of the bill includes $29.9 billion for NIH, an increase of $1 billion (3.5 percent) over the FY 2007 level. However, the Senate bill takes the same approach as the House subcommittee in transferring funds from NIH to the Global HIV/AIDS fund; as a result, the net increase proposed by the Senate for the NIH budget in its draft bill is $799 million (2.8 percent) over FY 2007.

It is important to note that both the Senate and the House proposed funding levels for NIH in FY 2008 essentially represent a cut in NIH funding since the small increases it provided do not keep pace with the projected 3.7 percent increase in biomedical inflation for 2008.

Additionally, Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-PA) have included a provision in the Senate version of the bill that would essentially overturn the President's recent veto of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (S. 5) and make more embryonic stem cell lines available for federal funding. The language inserted by Senators Harkin and Specter, the chief Senate sponsors of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, would allow federal research funding on stem cell lines derived after June 15, 2007; current Bush Administration policy allows for federal funds to only be used for research on embryonic stem cell lines derived prior to August 9, 2001.

The full House Appropriations Committee is tentatively scheduled to consider the FY 2008 Labor-HHS funding bill the week of July 9. Timing for consideration of the bill by the full Senate is uncertain, though congressional leaders in both the Senate and the House remain hopeful that the majority of FY 2008 funding bills can be completed prior to August.

More information about the President's proposed FY 2008 budget, a summary of the proposed FY 2008 NIH budget, and information from the House and Senate Appropriations Committees is available online. To participate in ASH's most recent online advocacy campaign on this issue, please visit the ASH Advocacy Center.