WASHINGTON—July 16, 2009—Research!America's chair, The Honorable John Edward Porter, praised the leadership of Rep. David Obey (WI), chair of the House Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, in securing the Subcommittee's recommendation of $31.3 billion in FY 2010 funding for the National Institutes of Health-$500 million more than President Obama's budget request. The increase amounts to nearly $1 billion and reflects roughly the amount of biomedical research inflation. Porter added that he hoped at the end of the entire appropriation process the number could be higher, but that this was a very good start, especially in view of the House Subcommittee's allocation of $160.7 billion, which is $3 billion less than the Senate's.
"Research!America knows that Chairman Obey wants to capitalize on the investment in NIH from the recovery act by supporting strong funding for the agency in appropriations," Porter said. "New Research!America opinion poll data, commissioned for the Your Congress-Your Health initiative, shows that the public agrees with the Subcommittee's intent: 56% of Americans say we're not spending enough on research to prevent, cure and treat disease and disability."
The House of Representatives is scheduled to consider the LHHS bill by the end of July, and the Senate is expected to begin subcommittee mark-up of its LHHS appropriations bill soon. Research!America is calling for a very robust increase of 10% in the NIH budget as a critical investment to improve human health.
Research!America is the nation's largest not-for-profit public education and advocacy alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority. Founded in 1989, Research!America is supported by 500 member organizations that represent the voices of 125 million Americans. Visit www.researchamerica.org or www.yourcongressyourhealth.org for more information.
###