Grant Funding in Jeopardy

DATE: March 31, 2005
TO: All Members of the Congressional Liaison Committee
FROM: The Joint Steering Committee for Public Policy
RE: Grant Funding in Jeopardy

Our advocacy efforts must be energized to deal with the growing crisis involving the federal funding of biomedical research.

The FY 2006 proposed funding levels for the NIH & NSF do not keep pace with the biomedical inflation rate of 3.5%. Competition for grants will increase in the immediate future.

FY 2006 NIH Funding: President Bush has proposed a NIH budget of $28.845 billion, an increase of $196 million or 0.7%.

FY 2006 NSF Funding: President Bush has proposed a NSF budget of $5.61billion, an increase of $132.2 million or 2.4%. Much of the proposed increase will be transferred to the Coast Guard for support services.

Section two provides more details on President Bush’s FY 2006 budget request.

I. What Can You Do?

1. Support in Congress for funding increases to the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation budgets depend on engagement of biomedical scientists in the political process. Our last CLC recruitment request generated hundreds of new advocates, but we still need many more participants to fight this uphill battle. Refer at least five of your colleagues to join the Congressional Liaison Committee (CLC). Look around your lab or department. We are certain that at least five student, postdoc, staff or faculty colleagues will want to participate. They may join the CLC. The CLC is free and open to all scientists and students of science. Helping to educate lawmakers about basic research science and science policy is the responsibility of the research community regardless of career level. The JSC/CLC does not rent, sell or give away the email addresses of its members.

2. On April 27, the JSC is hosting its second Capitol Hill Day of 2005. You are cordially invited to attend this event at which scientists will meet with elected officials on Capitol Hill. Limited travel awards are available to help defray the expense of traveling to Washington, DC. For more information or to obtain a travel award application, use this link.

3. It is important that the scientific community make its view known to Congress. Lawmakers appreciate hearing from their constituents who are experts in the field in which they are advocating. Take the time to write a letter to your Member of Congress. This has been made exceedingly easy by the JSC’s Online Advocacy Center. The JSC even provides suggested text on a variety of issues which you can customize in a matter of minutes.

4. Print out and display the poster, “Is Your Grant Funding in Jeopardy?” at the appropriate place at your institution and lab. The poster encourages individuals to visit our website and learn more about the importance of scientific citizenship and to join the CLC.

5. Congressional District Work Periods allows Members to travel back to their home districts for several days and sometimes weeks at a time. It is a time when they get a break from the business in Washington and get a chance to be reacquainted with the issues that are important to their constituents. The JSC encourages you to take advantage of this time to conduct meetings with your Representative in their district offices to discuss issues that are important to biomedical researchers. Please contact Lynn Marquis at (301) 347-9309 if you are interested in participating in a Congressional meeting in your Congressional district. He will assist you with scheduling, planning and preparing for the meeting.

II. Background on the Administration’s FY 2006 Budget Proposal

President Bush submitted his $2.57 trillion FY 2006 budget to Congress on February 7. It includes $840.3 billion for discretionary programs, a 2.1% increase over last year. However, the entire increase is dedicated to defense programs. All non-homeland security/non-defense discretionary funding will receive a 0.6% cut. According to the President, these cuts are necessary to meet his target of halving the federal deficit within four years. Republican leadership has already noted its strong support for the President’s extremely tight budget.

NIH Funding: The Department of Health & Human Services is slated to receive a 0.5% cut in its total budget in FY06 compared to FY05. The President has proposed somewhat higher NIH funding of $28.845 billion in FY 2006, an increase of $196 million or 0.7%. This is the third year in a row that the proposed NIH budget has not kept pace with the 3.5% biomedical inflation rate. The proposed NIH budget will fund only 38,746 research project grants, 402 fewer than in the current year. Non-competing grants will be reduced by 658, from 27,750 in 2005 to 27,092 in 2006. It is anticipated that the NIH grant application success rate will drop to 21% in FY 2006.

On March 16, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to accept an amendment proposed by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) to the FY 2006 Budget Resolution that will allow $1.5 billion more than the FY 2005 budget for the NIH in the appropriations process (the Budget Resolution establishes total spending for the year). While an important indication of support for the NIH on the Hill, the amendment does not guarantee an increase in funding for the NIH.

NSF Funding: The President has proposed a budget of $5.61 billion for the NSF in FY 2006, an increase of $132.2 million or 2.4%. A substantial portion of the proposed increase would be transferred to the Coast Guard for operating icebreaker ships that assist NSF-funded polar research. In 2005, Congress had cut the NSF budget by $105 million. Despite the proposed increase for 2006, the NSF budget will still be less than in 2004. It is anticipated that the NSF will fund 10,010 grants in FY 2006; 100 projects less than in FY 2005.

III. Stem Cell Research Enhancement Acts in the 109th Congress

HR 810 and S 471, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement bills, introduced earlier this year in the House by Reps. Mike Castle (R-DE) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) and in the Senate by Sens. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA), continue to gain co-sponsors. These bills seek to expand the number of stem cell lines that are eligible for federally funded research, thereby accelerating scientific progress towards cures and treatments for a wide range of diseases and debilitating health conditions. The bills also institute stronger ethical requirements on stem cell lines that are eligible for federally funded research.

Under the current federal policy on human embryonic stem cell research, only those stem cell lines derived before August 9, 2001, are eligible for federal funds regardless of the date on which they were derived.

Contact your Member of Congress to express your support HR 810 and S 471.

IV. SCNT/Cloning

Recently, Representative Dave Weldon (R-FL) and Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) have introduced legislation that seeks to ban all human cloning, including somatic cell nuclear transfer (therapeutic cloning).

Pro-research bills which would ban reproductive cloning but allow for SCNT under strict guidelines will be introduced soon by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

More information will follow shortly.