Endocrine Insider
October 25, 2007

On October 23, the Senate passed the House FY2008 Labor-HHS-Education (L-HHS) Appropriations Bill by a vote of 75-19. The bill provides the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with $29.89 billion in FY2008, an apparent increase over FY2007 of $1 billion or 3.5 percent. However, the bill requires NIH to transfer $201 million to the Global AIDS Fund, thereby decreasing the effective increase for NIH-supported programs to $799 million or 2.8 percent. The next step is for House and Senate members to agree upon a final version in conference.

The President has threatened to veto all appropriations bills that exceed his proposed budget requests, and the L-HHS bill does so by $9 billion. In the event of a veto, both the House and the Senate would need a subsequent 2/3-majority vote to override the veto.

While both chambers passed the measure with a veto-proof margin, concern remains that some senators may change their votes in a veto-override attempt. These concerns are prompted in part by the actions of Senate Republicans themselves, who offered a motion prior to the recent vote that the bill be sent back to the subcommittee with instructions to meet the President’s proposed spending limit. The amendment did not pass but did receive the support of 40 senators, indicating that the Senate may not have the requisite 67 votes to override a veto.

After an agreement is reached in conference and a final version is prepared, both chambers will vote again on the consensus measure. This vote may provide further insight into the potential for a veto override.