House Subcommittee Approves Funding Increase for NIH and CDC

The House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved its fiscal year 2011 funding bill on Thursday, July 15 by a vote of 11-5.

The bill would provide $76.7 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services. This is $3.8 billion more than last year’s funding level and about $270 million more than the President requested.

For the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the bill would provide $32 billion. This is an increase of $1 billion over last year’s funding level or about a 3.2% increase and is equal to the President’s request for NIH. The funding for NIH includes $50 million for the Cures Acceleration Network.

Chairman Obey’s statement identifies NIH funding as one of the bill’s priorities:

“this year’s bill puts the emphasis on translating basic research results into practical and available cures and treatments. Among other things, it permits NIH to use up to $50 million to launch a newly authorized program aimed at that objective, which is called the Cures Acceleration Network.”

For the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the bill would provide nearly $6.8 billion. This is an increase of $32 million over last year’s funding level and $170 million over the President’s request. The bill also appropriates an additional $594 million from the Prevention and Public Health Fund to the CDC.

The CDC funding includes:

$7.6 billion for the Health Resources and Services Administration
$3.58 billion for the Substance Abuse and the Mental Health Services Administration
$411 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

The Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled to consider its funding bill on Thursday.

This news article was originally posted on July 19th, 2010 and was accurate at the time of publication. Since then, information may have changed or links may now be outdated. Please call our Answer Line 1-877-427-2111 for the latest information, or talk to your doctor before making any medical decisions.

Posted by Catherine Knowles on July 19th, 2010
Tags: CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chairman Obey, Cures Acceleration Network, Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, House Labor-HHS Subcommittee, National Institutes of Health (NIH)