After passage in both the House and Senate on Friday, President Barack Obama is set to sign the very controversial $787 billion economic stimulus package in Denver today. Read the rest of this entry »

As I reported yesterday the House and Senate have come to an agreement in conference on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – a.k.a. the Stimulus Package. House leadership has just announced that a final House vote on the bill will not take place until Friday. Senate passage is also expected by week’s end.

We now know that the conference report contains $10 billion for the NIH ($8.5 billion for research and $1.5 billion for extramural facility improvements), $1 billion for prevention, $1.1 billion for comparative effectiveness research (including an additional $400 million for research at the NIH), and $500 million for HRSA health professionals programs.

Conferees for both the House and Senate have come to an agreement on a stimulus package. Both chambers agreed on a $789 billion price tag. “The bills were really quite similar, and I’m pleased to announce that we’ve been able to bridge those differences,” said Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV).

“Like any negotiation, this involved give and take, and if you don’t mind my saying so, that’s an understatement,” he said. (CNN.com, 2-11-09)

No word yet on the final amount for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Senate version provided a total of $10 billion to the agency.

The Senate and House have chosen their individual conferees to work out the differences between the two versions of the Stimulus package. Read the rest of this entry »

The Senate passed a $838 billion stimulus package on Tuesday. The bill won support from three Republicans, Sens. Arlen Specter (PA), Susan Collins (ME) and Olympia Snowe (ME), to pass 61 – 37 in the upper chamber. The bill will now go to conference where both House and Senate representatives will have to work out differences and come up with one bill. Read the rest of this entry »