Posted By: Derek Scholes, ASHG Director of Science Policy, and Jillian Galloway, Science Policy Analyst
On Monday, the Office of Management and Budget rolled out the President’s budget request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. Although Congress ultimately determines federal spending, the President’s budget sets the tone for the nation’s domestic and international priorities. The proposed budget for the Department of Health and Human Services (see page 40) suggests $34.8 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). While this represents an increase over the current funding for NIH, most institutes at the NIH funding genetics research would see their funding cut. In response, ASHG President David Nelson issued a statement expressing disappointment and the Society’s enthusiasm for working with congressional leaders to sustain ongoing investments in biomedical research.
With the FY 2019 announcement coming from the White House this week, you might assume that Congress has finished its work for funding FY 2018. But you’d be wrong! After several months of debate and delay, and a couple of brief government shutdowns, Congress is finally entering the home stretch. As you may have heard, last Friday Congress passed legislation allowing spending caps on federal programs to increase by $296 billion. The passage of this legislation also established a deadline of March 23 for Congress to determine how much funding to allocate to each federal agency in FY 2018, including for NIH. Therefore, now is the time to contact your members of Congress about why sustained federal funding for human genetics research is so important.
The FY 2018 funding story to date has been complicated, so let’s briefly recap what’s happened so far. Congress was unable to pass legislation to establish FY 2018 funding for federal agencies by the September 30, 2017 deadline established by law. Since then, Congress has been passing a series of Continuing Resolutions, or CRs, to allow the government to continue to function. These have been necessary because Congress has been unable to reach agreement on overall levels of funding in FY 2018 and what the funding of each agency should be. The passage of last week’s budget agreement between Republicans and Democrats marks a significant hurdle in overcoming this impasse.
For NIH specifically, there are two alternative proposals on the table for FY 2018. House appropriators have proposed $35.2 billion for the agency, an increase of $1.1 billion over the FY 2017 funding of $34.1 billion. A Senate proposal goes further, supporting a $2 billion increase to $36.1 billion. Over the past several months, ASHG and its partners within the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) have been working with the larger biomedical research community in making the case for a $2 billion increase. These numbers stand in stark contrast to the Administration’s proposal to cut funding for NIH by an unprecedented $7 billion cut to $26.9 billion.
To secure the $2 billion increase for NIH, your Senators and Representatives need to hear from you now! Please go to our Advocacy Center to send a personal appeal to your elected representatives about the impact of federal appropriations on your research and/or institution, urging them to support a $2 billion increase for NIH. Your story matters: Emphasizing the important role federal funding makes to your genetics work is imperative for making the case, more generally, for scientific discovery as a national priority. Take action today and make sure your voice is heard on Capitol Hill.
For more information on ASHG programs in policy and advocacy, visit the Policy & Advocacy page.