On Monday, the House Appropriations Committee released details on the FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act. Included in this omnibus package is the FY 2009 Labor-HHS-Educations Appropriations bill. This appropriations bill contains funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Currently, most Federal health and education programs are funded at their FY 2008 levels by a continuing resolution passed last year.

You will find below the preliminary details on the funding for the NIH and CDC in this package. I will keep everyone updated as new information is released.

• National Institutes of Health: $30.3 billion for NIH, a $938 million funding increase over FY 2008.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: $6.6 billion for CDC, a $239 million funding increase over FY 2008.

On Tuesday President Bush signed a continuing resolution (CR) that will fund the government for another twelve months.

The president signed the $634 billion spending bill on the last day of the federal government’s budget year. Even though the bill was more expensive than the president would have liked, it was a piece of legislation that was a “must pass” before Congress adjourns.

As mentioned earlier, the Senate attempted to add a $56 billion dollar stimulus package that would have included $1.2 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Unfortunately the measure failed to receive the 60 votes needed.

Congress on Saturday sent a Continuing Resolution (CR) to the President for his signature. This bill will keep the Government running until March 2009. The total cost of the bill, which was approved by a 78 – 12 vote in the Senate, has a price tag of $634 billion.

A CR was needed due to the fact not one of the twelve annual spending bills was passed this year, which caused both the White House and Congress to point fingers at each other.

During debate on Saturday, Senators Reid (D-NV) and Byrd (D-WV) offered a $56 billion economic stimulus package as an amendment to the CR. This package would have included an additional $1.2 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for Fiscal Year 2009. Unfortunately, the vote fell short (52-42) of the sixty votes needed to move the package forward, ending efforts to increase funding for the NIH and NCI.

So what does this mean for cancer? Federal investment into cancer research will remain at the FY 2008 levels. Funding trends over the past five years for cancer research and control are beginning to jeopardize the progress that is being made. After accounting for biomedical inflation, NCI’s budget has decreased by more than 16.5 percent since FY 2003.