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The U.S. House of Representatives approved fiscal year (FY) 2008 appropriations legislation for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies on July 19, 2007.  For NIH, the bill includes $29.650 billion, an increase of $750 million (2.6 percent) above the current year's funding level; however, the bill also increases the amount of the transfer from NIH to the Global HIV/AIDS fund from the $99 million in FY 2007 to $300 million in FY 2008, which means the net increase in the NIH budget is $549 million (1.9 percent) over FY 2007.

While the House bill goes above the President’s requested level of $28.6 billion in funding for NIH for FY 2008 (a $310 million, or 0.8%, decrease in funding from FY 2007), such a small increase is effectively a cut in funding since this level would not keep up with the expected 3.7% increase in biomedical inflation projected for 2008.  ASH continues to support an increase in funding of 6.7% for NIH in FY 2008.

The Senate must still consider its version of the bill, though no schedule for Senate consideration has yet been set.  The Senate Appropriations Committee has recommended $29.9 billion for NIH in FY 2008, an increase of $1 billion (3.5 percent) over the FY 2007 level.  However, the Senate bill takes the same approach as the House subcommittee in transferring funds from NIH to the Global HIV/AIDS fund; as a result, the net increase proposed by the Senate for the NIH budget in its draft bill is $799 million (2.8 percent) over FY 2007.

With the debate still pending in the Senate, now is the time to contact your Senators to strengthen their support for FY 2008 NIH funding.  It is a very tight year for the entire federal budget.  Grassroots support for NIH funding from across the nation is critical to gain any traction in the appropriations process.  The e-mail that you send to your Senators will make a difference.

If you have any questions, or need additional information, please contact ASH Research Advocacy Manager Tracy Becker at tbecker@hematology.org or 202-776-0544.