Specter, Harkin Introduce $5.2 Billion NIH Supplemental

Press Release

Bill Seeks to Keep NIH Funding Levels Consistent with Inflation

Today, Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) will introduce legislation to provide an additional $5.2 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for Fiscal Year 2008. The two leaders of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services and Education (LHHS) authored the bill to allocate $1.2 billion for the National Cancer Institute and $4 billion to the other NIH institutes.

The President's request for Fiscal Year 2009 is $29.229 billion, a decrease of $150 million below the previous year. On June 26th the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an $875 million increase in NIH funding for Fiscal Year 2009; however, the figure is insufficient in restoring the purchasing power of NIH's budget after five consecutive years of inflationary cuts. The $5.2 billion supplemental seeks to reestablish NIH funding at levels consistent with inflation and provide the Institutes with the resources to discover cures for cancer and other maladies. Senators Specter and Harkin determined the figure after consulting with the NIH and the cancer research community.

"This funding is critical to maintaining the important medical advances that NIH has been able to achieve." Senator Specter said. "Funding for NIH is grossly insufficient and Congress must do something about this scandalous situation."

"The National Institutes of Health is the premier biomedical research agency in the world," said Senator Harkin. "It is vital for the Congress to support our scientists as they search for treatments and cures that could provide hope to millions of Americans and I am proud to work with Senator Specter to continue our efforts toward this goal."

Today Senators Harkin and Specter held an LHHS hearing to examine the NIH budget. During the hearing, Dr. Zerhouni, Director of the NIH, testified that the current funding levels could have serious consequences on the Institutes' ability to perform research and train and recruit future scientists.

The bill will be referred to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

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