Lawmakers Try To Save Science Funding Amid Rush To Restore Defense Spending

[Uncle Joe]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/19/science-funding_n_5850412.html

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation late Thursday that would effectively do away with the budget cap for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The bill, titled the Accelerating Biomedical Research Act, would replace the institute's existing budget limit with a much higher ceiling, one that would see funding for the NIH restored to the levels it would have reached had it kept up with inflation after 2003.

The bill, which mirrors one introduced in the Senate by the retiring Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), is a rebuke to the spending caps introduced by the Budget Control Act of 2011, which pared down both defense and non-defense spending alike. While it seems unlikely in today's climate that conservatives would suddenly abandon the spending reductions they were able to secure in hard-fought budget standoffs with the White House, there is a potential window for alterations.

(snip)

Enter the NIH. There is a long history of bipartisan support in Congress to enhance money for biomedical and scientific research. Some of the NIH's funding was restored in the budget deal completed this past winter, but the levels are still short of where they stood prior to the implementation of the Budget Control Act (and the implementation of sequestration). This past fiscal year, NIH funding stood at $29.9 billion. Adjusted for inflation, that's less funding than the NIH received during every year of the George W. Bush administration except the first.

"One of my proudest accomplishments as a member of Congress is helping to double NIH's funding," DeLauro said in a statement, referring to legislation she helped to pass more than a decade ago. "Work supported by the NIH has saved the lives of countless Americans. Failure to invest in health research and disease prevention results in huge costs to our health, society, economy and knowledge itself. Congress must stop forcing the NIH to do more with less."

Considering the rising threat of Ebola or other diseases that are likely to rise or migrate due to global warming and increased interconnectivity, I believe it's imperative to put a priority on NIH funding.

The U.S. should not give up or fall farther behind on infrastructure issues of all types whether it be tangible constructs ie: roads, bridges, a smart grid, schools, sustainable energy sources or the less visible needs that are just as critical to our nation's success and well being, ie education and scientific research.

Please contact your Congress person or Senator and express your support.

[Duppers]

1. Thanks for posting this, Uncle Joe.

From another HuffPo article:

"While NIH's funding increased this year from last year, when sequestration forced an estimated $1.55 billion reduction, it still fell $714 million short of pre-sequestration levels. Adjusted for inflation, it was lower than every year but President George W. Bush's first year in office.

Surveying the climate, the American Academy for Arts & Science released a report this week showing that the United States "has slipped to 10th place" among economically advanced nations in overall research and development investment as a percentage of GDP.

For science advocates, it was another sobering cause for alarm. Young researchers are leaving the field or country. Projects that could yield tremendous biomedical breakthroughs aren't getting off the ground."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/18/major-science-breakthrough_n_5840036.html


Bottom line: The NIH's medical research saves lives, yet the GOP doesn't want to fund it.

Please write to your congress-critters asking them to support Rep. Rosa DeLauro's (D-Conn.) and Rep. Brian Higgins' (D-N.Y.) bill, titled the Accelerating Biomedical Research Act.

Save Science Funding

[Uncle Joe]

2. Thanks for the addition, Duppers.

Peace to you.