National Institutes of Health R&D (NIH)

Support in Congress for NIH continues to be strong. Last year, as an expression of budgetary goals, the Senate voted unanimously in support of doubling funding for NIH over five years. In real funding, Congress approved a 7.1 percent increase for NIH for FY 1998, giving NIH its third consecutive year of sizable increases during a period when Congress was focused on balancing the budget and cutting taxes. For FY 1999, President Clinton has proposed raising NIH funding by 8.4 percent, and many members of Congress will want to meet or exceed that proposal.

However, a critical need for public support for NIH remains. Leading congressional "budget hawks" have signaled their opposition to increasing discretionary spending (which includes NIH) for FY 1999 above the level permitted in the 1998 balanced budget agreement. If Congress resists increasing the total amount of discretionary spending, it will be very difficult to enact an increase for NIH as large as the 8.4 percent proposed by the President.

Champions and Players

Representative John Porter (R-IL) and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), who chair the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor-Health & Human Services-Education, respectively, are both champions of NIH. In 1995, Porter succeeded in halting an effort by House leaders to cut NIH by 5 percent and eventually won an appropriation for the agency for FY 1996 that was 5.7 percent above the FY 1995 level. Porter and Specter are largely responsible for securing the 6.5 percent increase for FY 1997 and the 7.1 percent increase for FY 1998. Other notable supporters include Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), the Ranking Member of the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee; Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), in whose state NIH is located; Representative Louis Stokes (D-OH); and Representative David Obey (D-WI), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Supporting Arguments

• NIH is the major supporter of biomedical research in the United States. Such research provides a basis not only for healthier, longer lives, but also for reduced health-care costs due to prevention and more cost-effective treatment. If the dramatic medical advances of recent decades are to continue, NIH must receive adequate and stable support.

• NIH research provides training for new scientists, stimulates the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries—both of which contribute positively to the balance of trade—and makes the United States a world leader in biomedical research.

• NIH funding is spent throughout the nation. Eighty-five percent of the agency's $13.6 billion budget supports research conducted in more than 2,000 different institutions.

Revised for 1998 by Melissa Kuckro, ACS

Posted: January 16, 1998; Revised 2-4-98