NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

Subcommittee appropriators and Republican leaders in the House of Representatives were unable to add the billions of dollars needed to produce a viable bill this week as planned. Chairman John Porter (R-IL) had prepared a bill that provided NIH with $16.9 billion for FY 2000, $1.3 billion above the FY 1999 budget. This would seem to indicate that biomedical research will be a priority for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee (L/HHS). It remains uncertain, however, when or if funds will be found to put together a bill that will please both Republicans and Democrats.

Democrats appear unwilling to accept funding increases for NIH unless there is enough money for education and social programs also covered by the bill. House Republicans remain opposed to raising the spending caps of the 1997 budget agreement and both sides refuse to use the federal budget surplus for the extra funds. The Administration is pushing for billions of dollars in additional spending for elementary and secondary education plus $1 billion for the second installment of President Clinton's plan to hire 100,000 teachers nationwide.

In the Senate, Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AL) is reportedly ready to use $12 billion of the surplus for the L/HHS bill, despite other Senate leadership members maintaining that no surplus funds be used for discretionary program funding. As the saga continues, Representative Porter continues to press for action. He fears that waiting until the end of the fiscal year is a mistake that will lead to the administration having too much leverage and the result will be an omnibus spending bill with dire ramifications for Republicans. Beyond the actual appropriations, the bill is also likely to be a magnet for amendments ranging from birth control to medical research using stem cells.

PLEASE WRITE YOUR CONGRESSPERSON ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF FUNDING FOR THIS IMPORTANT ARM OF U.S. SCIENCE. FOR FORMAT, PLEASE CONSULT OUR SITE "HOW TO WRITE AN EFFECTIVE LETTER TO CONGRESS". PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL COPY TO P. CALARCO – calarco@itsa.ucsf.edu