APPROPRIATIONS- FY2007 JOINT FUNDING RESOLUTION

On January 31, 2007, the House approved the Joint Funding resolution [also referred to as the full-year FY2007 continuing resolution (CR) (H.J. Res 20)] by a vote of 286-140. The spending measure fills the gap left by the collapse of the budget process under Republican rule last fall. The Senate began debating the measure on February 8, 2007, but with funding for the government running out on February 15, 2007, both parties and the White House are eager to resolve the fiscal crisis for FY2007 and move on to the FY2008 budget process.

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PRESIDENT'S FY2008 BUDGET REQUEST FOR NIH, NSF, DOE, USDA, VA, NASA

President Bush released his FY2008 budget proposal on Monday, February 5, 2007. Defense and Homeland Security accounts receive the bulk of the increases, while the President’s budget would squeeze non-security programs to a one percent annual growth rate in order to meet his goal of erasing the deficit by 2012. Rob Portman, the President’s Budget Director, stated that the one percent increase in non-security domestic spending “is adequate to fund the nation’s priorities.”

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MEETINGS WITH HHS AND NIH LEADERS

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt and NIH Director Elias Zerhouni held briefings on the President's FY2008 budget.

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

In many respects, President Bush’s budget has been overtaken by the House’s passage last week of a Joint Funding resolution to complete work on the FY2007 appropriations bills. This is because the President’s FY2008 budget was prepared prior to the release of the Joint Funding resolution proposal, and many of the small spending increases cited in the President’s FY2008 budget turn out to be reductions from those levels when compared to the revisions Democrats have proposed in the FY2007 Joint Funding resolution. For example, the small increase ($232 million) provided to NIH in the President’s FY2008 budget would actually be a significant cut ($511 million) if it is compared to what is provided for in the Joint Funding Resolution. Even though the Bush Administration does not plan to issue any technical reassessments to reflect the higher funding levels for NIH and other programs, it has been placed on notice that Congress regards medical research as a priority.

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CONGRESSIONAL MEETINGS

FASEB Meets with Representative McCollum’s Staff to Discuss NIH Appropriations
Leo T. Furcht, FASEB’s President, and Jon Retzlaff, FASEB’s Director of Legislative Relations, met with Representative Betty McCollum’s (D-MN) Legislative Director, Emily Lawrence, and Health Legislative Assistant Nina Schwartz, to introduce them to FASEB, discuss the importance of biomedical research funding at the National Institutes of Health, and highlight some of the exciting research occurring on the University of Minnesota campus.

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UPCOMING CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS

See list for hearings of interest, including Theme hearing, NIEHS, Budget, and Emergency Preparedness.

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FASEB NEWS

FASEB Releases Annual Federal Funding Recommendations for FY2008
With the resolution of the appropriations process for FY 2007, which funded the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science, at significantly higher levels than the previous fiscal year, FASEB was able to release our annual report to Congress, Federal Funding for Biomedical & Related Life Sciences Research, FY 2008, in a far more positive atmosphere than anticipated. “I was prepared to come here today to talk about the difficulty

in looking ahead to FY 2008 when FY 2007 remains unresolved,” said FASEB President

Leo Furcht, M.D., talking to a group of reporters during a press conference releasing the

report. “Instead, I am here today with you celebrating the good news that our voices were finally heard.”

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CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

The House and Senate are in session. The next scheduled recess is February 19-23 for the President’s Day district work period.

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