Senate’s NIH Budget Disappoints Advocates

[barbara]

It's not enough for what? I think it is time that the research industry starts to understand that they do not have carte blanche with taxpayer's money.


BioTechniques
06/19/2012 Andrew S. Wiecek

A Senate committee has increased the NIH’s FY2013 budget by $100 million, but advocates say that’s not enough.

Last week, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) proposed an amendment to the Senate Appropriations Committee that would have provided a $1 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in fiscal year 2013. Instead of approving Moran’s amendment, the committee passed an appropriations bill that included a modest $100 million increase for the NIH’s 2013 budget.

The increase is marginally more than President Barack Obama’s proposed NIH budget of $30.86 billion, which would keep the agency exactly at 2012 funding level. But the committee’s $100 million increase for the NIH will not cut it, according to advocates who believe the NIH needs more support to keep the US at the forefront of innovation in an increasingly competitive world.

The Senate Appropriations Committee passed an appropriations bill that included a modest $100 million increase for the NIH’s 2013 budget.

"Moving forward, bipartisan support will be critical for a significant funding increase that reflects the contributions of research as a driver of innovation and economic prosperity," said Research!America chair John Edward Porter in a statement. "As budget negotiations continue, we urge congressional leadership to demonstrate their support for medical breakthroughs, job growth, and a surge in public-private partnerships with a stronger investment in medical research."
Today, the Senate Cancer Coalition also heard testimonies to that effect from experts during a forum on advances in breast cancer treatment and prevention, the coalition’s first public event since 2003.

"These advances have been made possible through federal support for the [NIH] and the National Cancer Institute (NCI)," said panelist and president of the American Association for Cancer Research Frank McCormick in a statement. "However, there is now widespread, well-founded fear that the current budget crisis is jeopardizing our ability to take advantage of today’s unprecedented scientific opportunities to accelerate and strengthen our nation’s efforts against this disease, which still takes the lives of more than 1500 Americans every day."

The budgetcrisisis the result of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which threatens to cut the NIH 2013 budget by $2.8 billion dollars, or about 11.1%, because Congress could not agree on a plan to cut $1.5 trillion from the federal budget over the next team years by the December 23, 2011 deadline.

Now, the Senate appropriations bill will go to the full Senate for a vote. Meanwhile, a House of Representatives subcommittee is expected to release its funding recommendations later this week.