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$2 Billion Increase for NIH in Omnibus Spending Bill House and Senate leadership reached an agreement around 2:00 A.M. Monday morning on a spending bill that would fund the federal government for the remainder of FY 2017, which ends September 30, 2017. The spending bill contains an increase of $2 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is 6.2 percent above the funding level provided in FY 2016. In total, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would receive $2.8 billion more in funding than the amount that was allocated for FY 2016. Also in the spending bill is $153.4 billion for programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a $12.8 increase from FY 2016 levels. Of interest to the animal research community is a provision that would prohibit any federal funds from being used to carry out activities related to the issuance or renewal of licenses under the USDA’s Animal Welfare Act to Class B dealers who sell dogs and cats for research, experiments, teaching or testing. The provision repeats a similar provision included in spending bills last year. The prohibition on funding does not apply to all Class B license activities. Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) praised the omnibus spending bill and lauded the importance of funding medical research by stating in a press release: “The funding provided in this bill reflects the priorities of the American people, and puts us on track to maintain a robust, sustained federal commitment to medical research. I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill, and I’ll continue working to ensure NIH has the resources it needs to give hope to more families battling cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic diseases.” The agreement comes just a few days after legislators scrambled to avoid a government shutdown. Funding for FY 2016 expired in December, and the continuing resolution that was keeping the government operating throughout the past several months expired on Friday, April 28. To prevent a shutdown, Congress approved a one week extension, which expires this Friday, May 5 at midnight. The deal reached last night by House and Senate leadership has been reported as a bipartisan agreement. The spending bill is expected to pass both the House and Senate before Friday’s midnight deadline. To read the full 1665-page text of the bill, click here. Stay tuned for more Updates from NABR about the spending bill and NIH funding. |
