Endocrine Insider
August 6, 2009
(See Full Issue)

The House of Representatives passed the FY 2010 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill on July 27, 2009 by a vote of 264-153.  The Labor-HHS bill determines annual funding levels for the National Institutes of Health.  The House approved $31.3 billion for NIH, $500 million more than the President’s request and $942 million (3 percent) more than FY 2009.  During debate on the floor, the House considered five amendments, including an amendment offered by Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA).  The amendment, accepted by Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) without a vote, would remove funding for three NIH grants designed to understand the behavioral factors in HIV transmission.  However, there is a strong possibility that the amendment will not be included in the conference agreement between the House and Senate.

While the House has passed all 12 appropriations bills, the Senate process is moving at a slower pace.  The Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee and the full appropriations Committee passed the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill last week.  The Senate version of the bill includes $30.8 billion for NIH, an increase of $442 million (1.4 percent) over the FY 2009 level, matching the President's request. 

During his opening remarks, Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) stated that the subcommittee chose to allocate only a 1.4% increase to NIH because of the $10 billion allocation that it received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).  Many other programs that received significant funds through ARRA were also funded only at the level of the President’s request.  The Committee report, which offers further justification for the allocation of money, provides insight into why NIH was funded at the President’s request.

•    …”The Committee understands that the recommended fiscal year 2010 funding level falls below the amount needed to keep up with biomedical inflation, and that the NIH could face severe financial pressures in fiscal year 2011.  But the Committee notes that the record-high increase for the NIH in the ARRA greatly mitigates the need for more funding than the administration requested in fiscal year 2010.  While additional funding for the NIH could help ease the budgetary pressures in fiscal year 2011, that alone is not a sufficient reason to go beyond the administration’s budget request in fiscal year 2010, especially when many other important programs in this bill that did not receive increases in the ARRA face immediate pressures of their own.”

•    …”The Committee rejects the administration’s proposals to earmark an increase of $268,000,000 for research on cancer and an increase of $19,000,000 for research on autism.  The devastating effects of cancer and autism are well known, and additional federally supported research in these areas is certainly warranted.  However, the President’s plan would set a dangerous precedent.  The Committee has long subscribed to the view that funding levels for individual diseases should be determined without political interference.  If Congress were to earmark funds for cancer and autism, advocates for a multitude of other health problems would justifiably demand similar treatment.  In the long run, no one's interest would be served if Members of Congress with no professional expertise in medical research were asked to make funding decisions about hundreds of diseases and health conditions. ”

•    …”The Committee also notes that the proposed increases for cancer and autism research total $287,000,000 of the $441,764,000 overall proposed increase for NIH.  It is hard to justify to those whose lives have been touched by heart disease, diabetes, COPD, Alzheimer’s disease and stroke, to name a few other high-morbidity diseases, that research in just two areas deserves almost two-thirds of all the new funding in fiscal year 2010.”