Last week, the U.S. Senate Appropriations committee passed a bill that would increase funding for the National Institutes of Health by $2 billion for fiscal 2017. The U.S. House of Representatives must still pass its companion bill, but if this funding increase were to become law, this would be the second consecutive $2 billion increase in the NIH budget. Rescuing Biomedical Research has released a statement applauding the Senate Appropriations committee for beginning to build a foundation for stable funding increases for the NIH.
Sustainable and predictable funding for the NIH is critical to promote stable growth in the biomedical research enterprise. Many groups, including RBR, the National Academies, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and many scientific societies have called on Congress to implement sustainable and predictable increases for the NIH budget.