Join Your Hematology Colleagues to Take Action in Support of NIH Funding

On September 30 Congress passed, and President Biden signed into law, a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government funded past the start of the new fiscal year (FY) that began on October 1. The agreement funds the government until December 16 and keeps most funding unchanged at existing spending levels. The stopgap spending measure was needed because none of the twelve regular appropriations bills for FY 2023 have yet been finalized.

ASH has joined with hundreds of patient groups, scientific societies, research institutions, health professionals, educators, and industry organizations to recommend a program level of at least $49 billion for the NIH’s base budget in FY 2023 and to stress that any funding for ARPA-H, or for other targeted programs like pandemic preparedness, supplement the $49 billion recommendation for NIH’s base budget.

On July 28, Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats released drafts of the committee’s 12 FY 2023 spending bills. The draft Senate FY 2023 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) spending bill proposes $47 billion for the NIH base budget in FY 2023, a $2 billion (4.5%) increase in funding for existing NIH institutes and centers, compared to the President’s proposed $275 million increase and the House committee’s $2.5 billion increase. The bill also proposes a $1 billion investment in the ARPA-H, less than the $5 billion sought by the Administration and the $2.75 billion proposed by the House.

In addition, the draft Senate bill seeks $6 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Sickle Cell Data Collection program. While more than the $4.5 million proposed for the program by the Biden Administration, the Senate’s proposed level falls short of the $6.5 million being sought for the program by the House. The Senate bill also provides $8.205 million for the Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Demonstration Program at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the same level of funding proposed by the House.

As Congress continues work to assemble funding bills for NIH and other important research and public health programs, lawmakers need to continue to hear from constituents about the impact that research funding has on hematology. Please take a moment to enter your information below to quickly send a message to Congress asking for their support for increased NIH funding in the upcoming fiscal year and urging them to complete work on FY 2023 spending bills as quickly as possible to minimize the delays and disruptions caused by relying on further continuing resolutions.