Senate Approves Budget Adjustment for NIH; First Step in Long Battle to Boost NIH Funding

March 18, 2008

On March 13, the United States Senate, by an overwhelming vote of 95 to 4, approved an amendment to the budget resolution offered by Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA). The Specter-Harkin amendment added $2.1 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the Senate version of the budget resolution. This amount is in addition to the $900 million already recommended for NIH by the Senate Budget Committee. As a result of this positive Senate action, the NIH budget could be boosted by as much as $3 billion, or more than 10 percent, over FY 2008 levels.

This action is only the first step in a long budget and appropriations process that is predicted to last into 2009. It is not a certainty that the increase for NIH recommended by the Senate will be included in the final funding bill, but advocates for biomedical research were buoyed by the strong vote and will sustain efforts to see an aggressive increase in NIH funding.

The NABTC joined colleagues in the cancer community in a letter to the Senate that urged a yes vote on the Specter-Harkin amendment. Click here to see the Cancer Leadership Council Endorsement of the Specter-Harkin Amendment

Posted in Advocacy Positions, General News, Spending Bills