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NIH REAUTHORIZATION
On Tuesday, June 27th, Leo Furcht, M.D., FASEB’s
President and Jon Retzlaff, FASEB’s Director of
Legislative Relations, met with Joe Barton
(R-TX), House Energy and Commerce Committee
Chairman, Bud Albright, Staff Director for the
Committee and
Cheryl Jaeger and Katherine Martin, professional
staff overseeing NIH Reauthorization for the
Committee, to discuss the Chairman’s plans to
introduce and mark-up an NIH
Reauthorization bill. While Ms. Jaeger is
currently Majority Whip Roy Blunt’s (R-MO)
Health Policy Advisor, she continues to work on
NIH Reauthorization.
Chairman Barton informed us that he would like
to introduce his bill the week of July 10th, and
intends to report the NIH Reauthorization bill
out of committee before the August recess. Once
we are provided with bill language, FASEB plans
to co-host with the American Association of
Medical Colleges (AAMC) another town hall
meeting with the broader research and patient
group community to discuss the bill and attempt
to gain
consensus on many of the key areas.
Summary of FASEB’s Meeting with
Chairman Barton:
Chairman Barton explained that his number one
priority is to reauthorize NIH. It has been
thirteen years since the Committee has formally
reviewed NIH to ensure that it is being
efficiently and effectively managed. Chairman
Barton believes that it is not
acceptable for a $28 billion agency to escape a
periodic reassessment and review of its
activities. He stated that he is a strong
supporter of NIH, and his efforts are designed
to
help the agency move forward. Mr. Barton
informed us that he has spoken to Senate L/HHS
Appropriations Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA),
House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
and House L/HHS Appropriations Chairman Ralph
Regula (R-OH). He said that they are supportive
of his overall efforts to review and reauthorize
NIH. Though, they (like us) are waiting to see
the actual bill language before they will be
able to comment on it one way or another.
Specific Concepts Proposed:
While we still have not seen any actual bill
language, Chairman Barton described certain
key aspects of his proposal, including:
1. Appropriating to Individual Institutes and
Centers (ICs)
Chairman Barton explained that he listened to
the concerns about separating NIH
Institutes and Centers (ICs) into two categories
(mission-specific and science-enabling),
and decided against instituting such a plan.
Therefore, his proposal would encourage
appropriators to continue providing funding to
the individual ICs.
2. Overall NIH Authorization Levels
Chairman Barton informed us that he is prepared
to propose that NIH be authorized to
grow at a rate of five percent for each year the
authorization is in effect (FY2007 -
FY2009), and stated that he would fight to make
sure that NIH would receive the five percent
increase each year.
3. NIH Common Fund
Chairman Barton stated that the bill would set
aside 5 percent for the common fund in the first
year of the authorization; 7.5 percent in the
second year; and 10 percent in the final year of
the authorization. We informed him that Dr.
Zerhouni has publicly stated that the common
fund should not grow beyond 1.7 percent until
NIH is growing at a rate above biomedical
inflation. However, Chairman Barton said that he
would not accept anything below five percent. We
explained that in an environment of flat
budgets, ICs’ budgets would be severely impacted
(especially since in any given year, ICs are
only able to redistribute roughly twenty percent
of their individual budgets).
4. NIH Director’s Transfer Authority
We were informed that the NIH Director’s
transfer authority would remain at one
percent.
5. Individual Institute and Center Budget
Increases Linked to “Shared Funds”
Ms. Jaeger and Ms. Martin explained that the
bill would encourage NIH to utilize the
electronic reporting system (proposed in the
bill) to track all research grants and
programs and assess which research programs and
grants involve collaborative efforts
between one or more Institutes and Centers
(ICs). The Committee proposes that ICs
funding increases be determined based in part on
the level of internal collaborative work
(“shared funding”) that the IC, as determined by
each Institute and Center Director,
engaged in during the previous fiscal year. The
staffers suggested that ICs should be
spending at least ten percent of its budget on
trans-NIH initiatives. Dr. Furcht explained
that the best ideas often come from
investigator-initiated research proposals, and
expressed concern that this kind of emphasis on
trans-NIH research may result in NIH
scientific program staff exerting much more
influence over the direction of science than
is optimal.
6. Additional Concepts Proposed
a) A new demonstration program to award grants
for high-impact, cutting edge research;
b) Establishment of a “scientific management
review” group to review the structural and
organizational design of NIH every 5 years;
c) A new Agency-wide reporting system to catalog
all NIH research activities in a
standardized format; and
d) Establishment of the Division of Strategic
Planning and Portfolio Management to
assist the NIH Director with managing the entire
research portfolio of the agency, such as being
able to identify the areas of research which are
either underemphasized or
overemphasized.
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HOUSE FY2007 SSJC
APPROPRIATIONS
House Fully Funds President’s American
Competitiveness Initiative for NSF
On June 29, 2006, the U.S. House of
Representatives approved the FY 2007 Science,
State, Justice and Commerce appropriations bill.
This legislation included funding for the
National Science Foundation (NSF) and the
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA). A full copy of the text
of the legislation can be found on the
Library of Congress website, located here
(http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app07.html)
For NSF, the House approved the President’s
American Competitiveness Initiative
request and the SSJC subcommittee’s mark of
$6.02 billion for NSF. This is an 8%
increase over the FY 2006 funding level of $5.58
billion.
For NASA, the House passed legislation restored
cuts to science and aeronautics
programs but forgot about the Human Systems,
Research and Technology Program
(HRST). The bill funds HRST at $275 million,
$349 million below the FY 2006 level of
$624 million.
In praising this appropriation, outgoing House
Science Committee Chairman Sherwood
Boehlert (R-NY), noted that “the passage of this
bill may be looked back on as a
landmark moment in American History.” However,
it should be noted that attached to this
legislation was an amendment by Congressman
Scott Garrett (R-NJ). This amendment, if enacted
into law, would prohibit the use of funds from
being used to send or otherwise pay for the
attendance of more than 50 employees from a
Federal department or agency at any single
conference outside of the United States.
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on
Commerce, Justice, Science (the Senate
counterpart to the House SSJC Appropriations
Subcommittee) is expected to take up their FY
2007 spending bill on Tuesday, July 11, 2006.
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HOUSE AND SENATE FY2007
ENERGY AND WATER APPROPRIATIONS
Status of House FY2007 Energy and Water
Development Appropriations Bill (DOE)
The funding process for the Department of
Energy’s Office of Science is moving at a
rapid pace. On May 24, the full House of
Representatives approved the FY 2007 Energy
and Water Appropriation’s bill which included
$4.13 billion for the Department of
Energy’s Office of Science. This is the level
requested in the President’s American
Competitiveness Initiative and a 15% increase
over the FY 2006 level of $3.59 billion.
Senate Appropriations Committee Passes
FY 2007 DOE Funding Bill
On June 29, 2006, the Senate Appropriations
Committee approved their FY 2007 Energy
and Water appropriations bill. Included in this
legislation, the Department of Energy’s
Office of Science (DOE SC) received $4.241
billion. This funding level is $111 million
more than the House passed level and the
President’s request in his American
Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) and an 18%
increase over the FY 2006 level of $3.59
billion. A full copy of the text of the
legislation can be found on the Library of
Congress
website, located here (link to
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app07.html)
In commenting on the committee’s fully funding
the ACI, Energy Secretary Dr. Samuel
Bodman said, “the American Competitiveness
Initiative will boost our basic science
research funding. It will help support and grow
the world-class scientific discovery
occurring out our national laboratories. It will
also help train a new generation of
researchers and scientists that will ensure that
America will lead the world in opportunity
and innovation for generations to come.”
To date, the Senate has not scheduled a floor
vote on this legislation.
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