Endocrine Insider
April 15, 2010

(See Full Issue)

In an effort to influence the funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in fiscal year (FY) 2011, The Endocrine Society submitted testimony to the House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee this week.  The testimony will be shared with all subcommittee members and included in the public record.

In its testimony, the Society recommends that Congress provide NIH with $37 billion in FY 11, an increase of $6 billion over the FY 2010 budget.  An allocation at this level will allow NIH to continue to fund many of the 12,000 grants awarded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and provide NIH with the steady, sustainable, predictable increases needed in order to avoid the boom and bust cycle that it now faces with the end of the ARRA funds.  The Endocrine Society will discuss its recommendations with subcommittee members during upcoming Capitol Hill visits.

The testimony submitted to the subcommittees is one component of the Society’s advocacy efforts for biomedical research.  In addition to targeted Hill visits with appropriators, the Society also participates in a number of research-focused coalitions, including United for Medical Research, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, and the Ad Hoc Group for Medical research, and activates its grassroots network to contact Congress during key points of the appropriations process.