As expected, the Senate adopted last Thursday an appropriations package made up of the two largest spending bills, the Labor-HHS-Education and Defense measures. The Senate approved the $856.9-billion package by a vote of 85 to 7. While the House cleared its version of the Defense bill, it has yet to move on Labor-HHS.
Among other items, the Senate bill would fund the NIH at $39.1 billion in FY2019, an increase of $2 billion over the FY2018 level. During the floor debate, several amendments of interest were adopted, including:
- An amendment from Roy Blunt (R-MO), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) that would transfer $5 million from the NIH Office of the Director to the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services “for oversight of grant programs and operations of the National Institutes of Health, including agency efforts to ensure the integrity of its grant application evaluation and selection processes.”
- A Blunt-Murray amendment authorizing the Department of Education to allow institutions of higher education to service outstanding Federal Perkins Loans.