Getting Ready for the Budget Battle
Posted by Nancy Roach on April 19th, 2006
Past posts have discussed the impact of the 2006 funding cuts on cancer research and prevention. The President’s Budget proposal for 2007 would increase the cuts.
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has an excellent write-up (PDF file) explaining why the budget battle in 2007 is incredibly important:
Members of Congress on the respective Appropriations Committees cannot adequately fund programs in FY 07 if they are not allocated the money necessary to administer these programs. As we saw last year, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees can only spend as much money as the overall Budget Resolution allocates.…The Specter-Harkin and DeLauro amendments sought to restore funding for the health andeducation functions in the respective Senate and House Budget Resolutions to the levels provided just two years ago (Fiscal Year 2005). It is important that health and education advocates support the restoration of these critical funds this year, or the trend will only get worse as additional reductions are made with each passing year
An opinion piece by Martin D. Abeloff and Edward D. Miller in the Washington Post illustrate the very real impact of these cuts on cancer research (Abeloff is director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Miller is dean and chief executive of Johns Hopkins Medicine):
On an inflation-adjusted basis, the current NIH appropriation is smaller than it was four years ago. In constant dollars, NIH funding has declined by more than $1 billion since 2003 …Scientists across the country have seen delays in processing grant applications, elimination of cost-of-living allowances for multiyear grants and cuts in continuing grants previously awarded. For young researchers, there is the real danger that they may not receive any NIH funding. Some of our best and brightest young investigators … may leave the profession. What a loss that would be for American biomedical research.
As Congress returns from its Easter Recess on April 24, C3 will join cancer advocates from across the country in Washington DC to press for increased funding for cancer research and prevention. Stay tuned!
