FY 2006 NIH Funding in Jeopardy—Grassroots Support is Critical

December 2, 2005—The status of the fiscal year (FY) 2006 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill (HR 3010) remains unsettled after its defeat in the House, causing significant consternation in Congress about next year’s funding levels for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other critical health programs. Right now, several options are being considered for NIH, including: funding the agency at FY 2005 levels for all of FY 2006; attaching the Labor-HHS bill to the FY 2006 Defense Appropriations Bill; or, approving FY 2006 funding that provides between a 1 percent increase or a 2 percent cut for NIH.

ASH and other medical research organizations are still supporting the level approved by the Senate on October 27—$29.42 billion, a $1.05 billion or 3.7 percent increase over FY 2005. Please visit the ASH Advocacy Center and send an e-mail to your Senators and Representatives to strengthen support for FY 2006 NIH funding as this issue is currently under debate in the Congress.

House Rejects the Labor-HHS Bill

On November 17, 2005, the House of Representatives rejected the fiscal year (FY) 2006 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill (HR 3010) by a 209-222 vote. The defeated bill provided NIH with an FY 2006 increase of $206 million, a boost of only 0.7 percent. NIH was one of very few programs in this bill that was slated to receive an increase in FY 2006. The Labor-HHS House-Senate Conference Committee’s overall FY 2006 funding allocation was $1.48 billion below last year's funding level, which contributed to the small number of Labor-HHS programs that were scheduled to receive an FY 2006 increase in this bill.

A major factor in this bill’s defeat was the Conference Committee’s decision to eliminate funding for all member-specific projects (or earmarks) in the bill. This decision freed up $1 billion to distribute among several Labor-HHS programs. Without this money, every program in the Labor-HHS bill would have received a cut from FY 2005 levels.

Outlook

As the debate over the FY 2006 Labor-HHS bill continues, several options exist for passage of the bill this year. The House returns to Washington, DC, on December 6, and will begin to look for consensus to pass the Labor-HHS bill as a stand-alone bill. There are also some House members that want to try to attach the Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill to the Defense Appropriations Bill, since the defense bill is a “must-pass” piece of legislation. Others in Congress are advocating for approving a year-long continuing resolution (CR) for the Labor-HHS bill, which would fund NIH and other health–related agencies at FY 2005 levels for the entirety of FY 2006 (until September 30, 2006). Also looming over this debate is the potential that Congress will impose an across-the-board cut of 1 to 2 percent to programs in the Labor-HHS bill, to free up funds for other projects considered higher priorities.

Before adjourning for Thanksgiving recess, the Senate voted to support increased FY 2006 funding for vital health and education programs, including NIH. In fact, the Senate singled out NIH by calling for restoration of the Senate amount of $29.4 billion, an increase of 3.7 percent.

Since FY 2006 continues to be an extremely tight year for federal discretionary spending programs such as NIH, your grassroots support for NIH is extremely important as the House and Senate move toward finalizing FY 2006 spending.

All ASH members are encouraged to contact Congress through the ASH Advocacy Center and contact their Senators and Representatives to support a 3.7 percent increase for NIH in FY 2006.

Up-to-date information on the status of the FY 2006 Labor-HHS bill is available online at the ASH Advocacy Center.

If you have questions, or need more information, please contact ASH Government Affairs Manager Jeff Coughlin at 202-776-0544.