NIH Institute and Center FY2008 Funding Levels

The following chart shows how each of the NIH Institutes and Centers would be affected by the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2008:

 

IC – Specific Program	FY2007 Level (in thousands)	Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2008 Recommendation (in thousands)	$ Increase over FY2007 (in thousands)
NCI	4,797,639	4,805,088	+7,449
NHLBI	2,922,929	2,922,928	-1
NIDCR	389,703	389,703	0
NIDDK	1,705,868	1,705,868	0
NINDS	1,535,545	1,543,901	+8,356
NIAID (less Global HIV/AIDS Transfer)	4,268,708	4,265,896	-2,812
NIGMS	1,935,808	1,935,808	0
NICHD	1,254,707	1,254,708	+1
NEI	667,116	667,116	0
NIEHS	642,002	642,253	+251
NIA	1,047,260	1,047,260	0
NIAMS	508,240	508,586	+346
NIDCD	393,668	394,138	+470
NINR	137,404	137,476	+72
NIAAA	436,259	436,259	0
NIDA	1,000,621	1,000,700	+79
NIMH	1,404,494	1,404,493	-1
NHGRI	486,491	486,779	+288
NIBIB	296,887	298,645	+1,758
NCRR	1,133,240	1,149,446	+16,206
NCCAM	121,576	121,577	+1
NCMHHD	199,444	199,569	+125
Fogarty	66,446	66,558	+112
NLM	320,850	320,962	+112
OD	1,046,901	1,109,099	+62,198
B & F (funded within OD	81,081	118,966	+37,885
Common Fund (funded within OD)	483,000	495,608	+12,608
National Children’s Health Study	69	110,900	+41,900

TOP OF PAGE

Public Access Language Included in the FY2008 Omnibus Bill

Public Access language remained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008:
SEC. 218. The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, That the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law.
 

TOP OF PAGE

INSIDE (The Beltway) SCOOP–Jon Retzlaff, Legislative Director

While we are extremely disappointed in the final FY2008 funding levels for the scientific agencies FASEB supports (outside of VA and to a lesser degree, DOE research), the extent of our frustration becomes even more pronounced when we review the numerous positive events that occurred throughout the year, many of which signaled a much different outcome than which occurred.  In fact, the broader scientific community began the FY2008 appropriations process not only with high hopes, but also lots of momentum to back-up the optimism.  Some of the reasons for the scientific community’s renewed sense of optimism included: 

1)     Congress passed the NIH Reauthorization Bill in December, 2006, with nearly unanimous support.  The bill recommended annual increases for NIH of 6.7 percent, 8.3 percent and “such sums as necessary,” during the next three years.  President Bush signed the legislation just prior to his unveiling his FY2008 budget request;

2)      Congress passed the bipartisan American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) to double the budgets of the NSF and Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science over ten years.  The President highlighted the initiative in his State of the Union address;

3)      In January, 2007, Democrats assumed responsibility for completing the FY2007 appropriations bills that Republicans left unfinished.  In order to expedite the process and begin focusing on the FY2008 appropriations process, Democrats announced an agreement to flat fund practically all agencies, except for a few priority programs.  NIH, NSF and DOE were all singled out as priority programs and received favorable increases;

4)      On April 27, 2007, 176 House Members sent a letter to House Appropriations Chairman, David Obey (D-WI) and Ranking Member, Jerry Lewis (R-CA), requesting that they provide NIH with a 6.7% increase in FY2008 (translating to $1.9 billion increase).

5)      In May, 2007, Democrats passed a budget resolution that provided $22 billion more for domestic discretionary programs than President Bush requested in his budget.  The appropriations committees used some of the additional funds to recommend a $1.1 billion increase for NIH and to provide ten and fifteen percent increases for NSF and DOE’s Office of Science, respectively.   

Unfortunately, our community soon discovered that the President is able to control the appropriations process if he has at least 146 Members in the House of Representatives willing to vote to sustain a Presidential veto.  Therefore, in spite of a Democratic majority in both Houses of Congress, President Bush was able to influence the appropriations negotiations because 146 Republicans were willing to stand with the President and vote to sustain his vetoes.

This is why, in the end, Democratic leaders urged their colleagues to support the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2008 even though the bill disappointed many and failed to meet the expectations of the scientific community.

Senate Passes Farm Bill, Includes Language Prohibiting Class B Animal Dealers
After a great deal of procedural wrangling over introducing amendments, the Senate passed their version of the Farm Bill on Friday, December 14^th. Unfortunately, the final bill was not particularly favorable for research. While it did include the formation of a National Institute for Food and Agriculture, an entity for which FASEB has advocated, there were no substantial gains in funding for fundamental agricultural research. Moreover, language introduced by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) prohibiting the purchase of dogs and cats for research from Class B animal dealers was slipped into the bill through a manager’s amendment offered by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA). This interdiction will have serious consequences for ongoing research projects which use non-purpose bred dogs and cats, which are only available from USDA-licensed Class B dealers in many states.  The House version of the Farm Bill included similar language, which will make its removal during the conferencing of the bills a major challenge. It may take some time for the Farm Bill to be conferenced, however, because the House and Senate versions of the massive legislation are quite different. The President has threatened to veto both the House and Senate Farm Bills, so it is unclear what the fate of the bill would be once it is reconciled between both houses of Congress. Given the task at hand and the approaching election, Congress could very well decide to extend the existing Farm Bill another year or more.

TOP OF PAGE

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

The House has adjourned, closing its first session of the 110th Congress. The Senate reconvenes Friday for a pro forma session in order to prevent the President from making any recess appointments. Otherwise, for all practical purposes, Congress is adjourned until January 14, 2008.
 

PAGE 1 |  PAGE 2

GO BACK TO DECEMBER 21, WASHINGTON UPDATE