The bill passed the Senate earlier in the day, and House passage by a vote of 193-165 sends the measure to the President for his review and signature.

The short-term continuing resolution funds the federal government through March 4, 2011. It funds most programs including the Department of Defense cancer research programs, the National Institutes of Health cancer research programs, and the cancer control programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at fiscal year 2010 levels.

When the new Congress convenes, they will need to deal with funding the remainder of fiscal year 2011 (from March 5 until September 30), and we expect that the new Congress will reduce funding levels. House and Senate Republican leaders say they want to implement a cut of about 22 percent to bring non-security discretionary spending back to fiscal year 2008 levels. What Congressional leaders haven’t said is which programs should be cut, and by how much.

In today’s budget climate, it will be difficult to secure any funding increases for cancer research – even for investments with the proven long-term impact of biomedical research.

The only way we will get the members of the 112th Congress to make the fight against cancer a top legislative priority and continue to fund innovative and life-saving colorecal cancer research programs is if we tell them why it should be a priority. Come climb the steps of the Capitol with us – http://link.fightcrc.org/TakeAction. Taking the time to bring your cancer story to the halls of Congress will make a difference!

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.