Today, Dr. Keith Yamamoto, Chair of the Coalition for the Life Sciences, issued a strong statement in response to Federal District Court Judge Royce Lamberth’s preliminary injunction blocking President Obama’s 2009 executive order expanding funding for human embryonic stem cell (ESC) research. He stressed, “Amidst this legal sparring, those who stand to be truly injured by this ruling are patients and their families who desperately need therapies and cures for disease, those who suffer daily from chronic and fatal disorders.”

Judge Lamberth ruled that the Dickey-Wicker amendment signals the “unambiguous” intent of Congress to prohibit the expenditure of federal funds on research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed. Yet at least two Congresses (one Democrat and one Republican-controlled) and three Presidential Administrations (Clinton, Bush, and Obama) saw no contradiction between Dickey-Wicker and federal funding for ESC research.

On behalf of the CLS, Dr. Yamamoto urged Congress to quickly and decisively pass legislation that ensures continued federal funding to support research on stem cells derived from human embryos. This research, while still in its infancy, was moving forward with great momentum. If this ruling is not overturned, all the promising federal funded research using ESCs will be halted by summer 2011.  Dr. Yamamoto went on to say, “As researchers who depend heavily on federal funds for our work—including research on ESCs—we enter our labs every day with the hope that we will uncover causes and discover new treatments and cures for disease. ESC lines are bright beacons for that research. Federal funding ensures that this research receives full public scrutiny and that the public interest is protected.”

The CLS will continue to work with Congress and the Administration to ensure that this vital research will continue.

Click here to view a copy of the letter the CLS sent to Capitol Hill.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has fared exceedingly well in this difficult budget season.  Both the Senate and House Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittees marked up their FY11 appropriations bill and both chambers approved a healthy increase for the NSF.

The Senate bill provides $7.35 billion for NSF, $427 million above the FY10 enacted level.
The House provided $7.4 billion for NSF in FY11. This represents an increase over the FY10 enacted level of $498 million, or 7.2 percent.

The funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) FY11 budget has also been addressed in the House and Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittees.  Both chambers provided a $1 billion increase for the NIH in their respective FY 2011 bills approved in July. This is equal to the amount President Obama recommended in his budget request to Congress.

The CLS is extremely grateful to the Appropriations Subcommittees for sustaining a commitment to medical research at a time when the nation’s fiscal situation compels difficult decisions. We look forward to continue working with both the House and Senate to achieve our mutual goal of advancing the nation’s medical research enterprise to improve the health and quality of life of all Americans.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has fared exceedingly well in this difficult budget season.  Both the Senate and House Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittees (CJS) marked up their FY11 appropriations bill and both chambers approved a healthy increase for the NSF.

The Senate bill provides $7.35 billion for NSF, $427 million above the FY10 enacted level. The total includes $6 billion for research, $155 million for research equipment and facilities, and $892 million for education activities.

The House provided $7.4 billion for NSF in FY11. This represents an increase over the FY10 enacted level of $498 million, or 7.2 percent. Within that total, the subcommittee reduced funding for Research and Related Activities—from the $6 billion requested to $5.96 billion—and increased Education and Human Resources, from the $892 million requested to $958 million.

The House reprioritized the funding levels within the various departments at the NSF and shifted additional increases to the education components of the bill. Chairman Mollohan of the House CJS Subcommittee stated in his opening remarks, “the Subcommittee recommendation continues to provide resources consistent with the doubling path identified for NSF and NIST in the COMPETES Act.”  He added, “within overall science funding, the bill provides $1.5 billion to support all aspects of science, technology, engineering and math – or STEM – education, from kindergarten through graduate school. The bill puts a particular focus on inquiry-based instruction, broadening minority participation, and increasing graduate student fellowships.”

The next step in the process is for the bill to be voted on in the full committee in the respective congressional chambers. If we become concerned that NSF is in jeopardy of losing this proposed increase, we will alert you and ask you to write your elected Representatives.