Endocrine Insider
February 5, 2009

The House Democrats’ economic stimulus package, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was passed by the House on January 28 by a vote of 244-188.  The legislation includes $1.5 billion for grants, $500 million for intramural construction, and $1.5 billion for extramural facilities renovation for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The National Science Foundation (NSF) will also receive $3 billion and Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science will receive $1.9 billion.

The Senate Appropriations Committee marked-up its portion of the Senate recovery package on January 27 and included $3.5 billion for the NIH to be used for grants, capital equipment, and intramural facilities.  Senator Harkin (D-IA) introduced an amendment during floor debate on Tuesday, February 3 to add $6.5 billion for NIH, which brought the total to $10 billion.  The Senate adopted the amendment in place of a similar amendment introduced earlier by Senator Specter (R-PA).  NSF will receive $1.4 billion and DOE will receive $430 million if the package is passed in its current form.  The Senate is debating the package on the floor.

The Society has been actively representing the interests of its scientists on Capitol Hill throughout the process.  Society alerts have generated hundreds of letters to House and Senate members, reaching many key supporters.  The Society also sent a letter, which may be viewed here, to all Senators supporting Senator Specter’s amendment to add $6.5 billion to the economic recovery package for NIH.  Once the package passes the Senate, the House and Senate will conference to come to agreement on the differences in the two packages; the discussions will likely include research funding.  The Endocrine Society will continue to look for opportunities to influence the process to benefit researchers.