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NIH BUDGETS IN PERIL
FY 2003 funding for NIH continues to inch forward, with the Senate finally passing a $390 billion omnibus appropriations bill on Jan. 23. Next up, the House and Senate wrangle over the final version of the bill, but there are already hints that NIH's proposed funding increase will fall short of the goal of a doubled budget over the last five years.
A bill introduced in the House in early January would increase the NIH budget by 14.1 percent over FY 2002 levels, a slightly smaller increase than the one requested by the White House. After 3 percent, across-the-board cuts in all domestic spending programs in the Senate bill, the NIH budget would increase by 12.5 percent over FY 2002 levels.
Under the House bill, no NIH institute would see its budget increased by more than 6 percent. Most institutes would receive 4 percent to 8 percent increases under the Senate bill. But the House bill also proposes a discretionary fund of $2.2 billion dollars for the NIH Office of the Director, which could further distribute the funds to individual institutes "to support the highest priority research and infrastructure needs in bioterrorism, but also in other non-bioterrorism research areas."
An advance glance at President Bush's FY 2004 budget proposal, scheduled for release on Feb. 3, makes the funding future look even bleaker. Under the White House plan for 2004, the NIH budget would increase by less than 1 percent, an abrupt change from several years of double-digit increases.
Researchers, patient groups and other health care advocates are lobbying Congress to complete the final year of NIH budget doubling. If you would like to add your voice to this cause, there are several Web sites with sample letters and direct mailing options for your senators and representatives. Head to http://www.capitolconnect.com/fundnihnow or http://www.researchamerica.org/advocacy to send your message.
You can check on the progress of the final appropriations bill at the congressional legislation Web site "Thomas" (http://thomas.loc.gov), or get regular updates on all R&D legislation from the American Association for the Advancement of Science's R&D Budget and Policy Program at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd.
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