ASH President Applauds Bipartisan Budget Bill that Lifts Spending Caps

(WASHINGTON, February 9, 2018) — Today, Congress agreed to a two-year budget deal that will raise spending caps for non-defense discretionary programs, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The bill is expected to provide at least $1 billion per year to NIH over the next two years, which will support biomedical research in laboratories across the country. The bill also provides enhanced funding for community health centers, further extends funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and raises the debt ceiling. Additionally, massive cuts that had been proposed to the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which accounts for almost 12 percent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual budget, have been lessened and delayed for several years.

American Society of Hematology (ASH) President Alexis A. Thompson, MD, MPH, of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, issued the following statement:

“ASH applauds this bipartisan deal that will lift the onerous spending caps that have been placed on vital non-defense programs. This bill demonstrates that our representatives value America's standing as a leader in cutting-edge biomedical research, which leads to more jobs, more cures, and less human suffering. The Society remains committed to working with lawmakers to further increase appropriations for public health programs including NIH and also ensure that support for the agency and biomedical research remains stable and predictable."

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) (www.hematology.org) is the world’s largest professional society of hematologists dedicated to furthering the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting the blood. For more than 50 years, the Society has led the development of hematology as a discipline by promoting research, patient care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology. ASH publishes Blood (www.bloodjournal.org), the most cited peer-reviewed publication in the field, which is available weekly in print and online. In 2016, ASH launched Blood Advances (www.bloodadvances.org), an online, peer-reviewed open-access journal.

Contact:
Stephen Fitzmaurice American Society of Hematology
sfitzmaurice@hematology.org; 202-552-4927