Biophysical Society Newsletter - March 2015

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BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

2015

MARCH

Public Affairs

Three Bills Introduced in Congress to Increase NIH Funding

President’s FY16 Budget President Obama submitted his proposed budget for FY 2016 to Congress in early January. The levels of funding he is requesting for key science agencies and programs are noted in the chart below. While the submission of the President’s budget to Congress is the first step in the budget process, the approval of a budget falls to Congress. Both the House and Senate will begin the process by asking federal agency representatives to testify and explain their requests. These hearings are expected to begin by early March.

Based on legislation introduced during the first month of the new congressional session, there is some support on Capitol Hill for increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Four bills were introduced by February 2 that would circumvent or complement the regular appropriations process to ensure additional dollars flow to biomedical research in the coming years. Those bills are summarized here. Accelerating Biomedical Research Act In the US House of Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Brian Higgins (D-NY), and Peter King (R-NY) introduced the Accelerating Biomedi- cal Research Act (H.R. 531) on January 26. The purpose of the bill is to allow Congress to restore the purchasing power of the NIH budget to what it would have been if it had kept up with infla- tion since 2003. Currently, Congress has limited growth of the federal budget by adopting the Budget Control Act in 2012, which caps the total amount Congress can spend in discretionary funds each year. This bill would trigger an increase in that cap for any funding provided in excess of $29.4 billion to NIH to accommodate the ad- ditional funding provided. The bill would allow appropriations to increase for NIH by 10 percent per year for the first two years and roughly six percent per year through 2021. It is important to note that this is a bipartisan bill. Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced a bill by the same title (S. 318) and language in that chamber. In a February 5 press release, Ranking Member Mikulski said, “This legislation will redouble our commitment to NIH science and research, investing in the health of American families and the future of our next generation of scientists and innovators.”

Federal Funding for Science Agencies (in billions)

President’s Proposed 2016

Agency FY 2014 FY 2015

National Institutes of Health National Science Foundation Department of Energy Office of Science

$30.179 $30,311* $31,311

$7.172

$7.344 $7.724

$5.071 $5.071 $5.340

NASA Science

$5.151 $5.245 $5.289

NIST Science and Tech Labs

$0.651 $0.676 $0.755

*NIH received an additional $238 million to fight Ebola.