Late Sunday night (April 30), members of Congress reached a bipartisan deal on government spending through September of this year that included an additional $2 billion over current appropriations for the National Institutes of Health.
The NIH funding hike includes an extra $400 million to research Alzheimer’s disease and an additional $476 million for the National Cancer Institute. And it boosts spending on two of former President Barack Obama’s big science projects: the Precision Medicine Initiative, which will get an increase of $120 million as it seeks to recruit volunteers for genetic testing and health tracking; and the BRAIN Initiative, which will get an extra $110 million to support work mapping the human brain.
The House and Senate are expected to vote on the new budget package by Thursday (5/4/2017 – TODAY!!).
Congress Totally Ignored Trump’s Cuts to NIH Funding
Research advocates quickly came out against the 20 percent slice, which the Trump administration said would zero out “inefficiencies.” “Drastic cuts to the National Institutes of Health budget run counter to the priorities of our nation, national security and the aspirations of Americans,” Research!America President Mary Woolley said in a statement at the time.
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