Shortly after receipt of a Cognressional Budget Office (CBO) score that found that the health insurance and student aid overhauls would reduce the deficit by roughly $138 billion over the next years ($1.2 trillion over the next 10 years), the Democratic leadership in Congress posted the details of the bill on-line -as they had promised to do 72 hours prior to a vote. The move sets-up a potential vote this Sunday. Efforts have now intensified to find the 216 votes in the House and 50 votes needed in the Senate to finish work on the package. Analysis of the reconciliation package will be posted shortly on this website. In the interim, the full bill can be accessed here.
Category: Biomedical Research
FY11 Budget Overview
Despite an overall spending freeze proposal from the Obama administration, the student aid and research priorities of the higher education community faired relatively well in the President’s Budget Request for FY11. Within the Department of Education, the PBR seeks to increase the maximum Pell grant to $5,710 in FY11 from the current $5,550 level. More importantly, the proposal would make the Pell grant an entitlement, which would guarantee future increases. However, several of the agency’s student services programs (e.g. TRIO, GEAR UP, Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) were level funded in the proposal.
On the research side, the National Institutes of Health were provided an increase of $1 billion (3.2%) over FY10 in the FY11 PBR -representing the largest NIH dollar increase in 8 years (outside of the Recovery Act). Additionally, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is provided an 8% increase to $7.4 billion. Within NSF, the Ocean Observatories Initiative — a UW joint project — was provided $90.7 million for FY11 -as expected. The Department of Energy, Office of Science, is provided a 4.4% increase in the PBR. Within DoE, the Advanced Research Projects Agency -Energy (ARPA-E) is slated for its first significant regular annual appropriation -at a level of $300 million. Additionally, workforce investments for scientists and teachers is identified as a priority area for the agency.
The PBR includes an extension of an additional six months, through June 2011, the temporary Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) increase provided by the Recovery Act. The extension will result in an additional $25.5 billion to States for maintaining support for children and families helped by Medicaid. Details on agency and program line items are provided in previous posts, and additional analysis will be provided by the Office of Federal Relations.
The UW FY11 Federal Agenda will express support for many of the increases in student aid and research contained in the PBR. Additionally, UW specific requests will be made in the following areas: tidal energy research and development; promoting health professions through dental, nursing, and physicians assistant programs; environmental sustainability; increasing student services for our returning veterans; emerging research on the treatment of battlefield injuries to eyes and bone; small business development in the Tacoma area; and increasing K-12 learning outcomes through the use of advanced technology in classrooms.
The FY11 appropriations process will play out in the halls of Congress over much of this calendar year, with the goal of having a final budget in place by October 1, 2010. However, as was the case last year, Congress often requires extra time to push spending bills across the finish line.
National Institutes of Health FY11 Budget Request
Yesterday, the President’s Budget Request (PBR) for FY11 was released. The PBR contained the items of note, listed below, within the National Institutes of Health request.
|
AGENCY/PROGRAM |
FY10 FINAL |
FY11 PBR |
% CHANGE |
| National Institutes of Health |
31,247.0 |
32,247.0 |
3.20 |
| Office of the Director |
1,177.0 |
1,220.5 |
3.70 |
| National Cancer Institute |
5,101.7 |
5,264.6 |
3.19 |
| National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute |
3,095.8 |
3,187.5 |
2.96 |
| National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research |
413.1 |
423.5 |
2.52 |
| National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases |
1,957.4 |
2,007.6 |
2.56 |
| National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke |
1,635.7 |
1,681.3 |
2.79 |
| National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases |
4,816.7 |
4,977.1 |
3.33 |
| National Institute of General Medical Sciences |
2,051.0 |
2,125.1 |
3.61 |
| National Institute of Child Health and Human Development |
1,329.0 |
1,368.9 |
3.00 |
| National Eye Institute |
706.8 |
724.4 |
2.49 |
| National Institute on Aging |
1,110.0 |
1,142.3 |
2.91 |
| National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases |
538.9 |
555.7 |
3.12 |
| National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders |
418.6 |
429.0 |
2.48 |
| National Institute of Mental Health |
1,490.0 |
1,540.3 |
3.38 |
| National Institute on Drug Abuse |
1,059.0 |
1,094.1 |
3.31 |
| National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism |
462.0 |
474.6 |
2.73 |
| National Institute of Nursing Research |
145.6 |
150.2 |
3.16 |
| National Human Genome Research Institute |
515.9 |
534.0 |
3.51 |
| National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering |
316.5 |
325.9 |
2.97 |
| National Center for Research Resources |
1,268.5 |
1,308.7 |
3.17 |
| National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine |
128.8 |
132.0 |
2.48 |
| National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities |
211.5 |
219.0 |
3.55 |
| Fogarty International Center |
70.0 |
73.0 |
4.29 |
| National Library of Medicine |
350.6 |
364.8 |
4.05 |
In millions of dollars
Scientific Opportunities
The $1 billion increase in NIH funds will support scientific opportunities in several emerging areas. Innovative high throughput technologies, including DNA sequencing, imaging, and computational biology, represent areas of exceptional promise. The success of the Human Genome Project and several other subsequent major projects provides a powerful foundation for a new level of understanding of human biology, and has opened a new window into the causes of disease. That includes the revelation of hundreds of previously unknown risk factors for cancer, autism, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and a long list of other common illnesses that have previously been unapproachable. In the area of cancer, a new ability to achieve comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms responsible for malignancy has already provided insights into diagnostics, and pointed to a whole new array of drug targets. New stem cell research projects are underway, encouraged by the President’s Executive Order on stem cell research, and hold out great promise for applications to diseases like Parkinson’s disease, type 1 diabetes, and spinal cord injury. New partnerships between academia and industry promise to revitalize the flagging drug development pipeline. An era of personalized medicine is appearing, where prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease can be individualized, instead of using the one-size-fits-all approach that all too often falls short, wasting health care resources and potentially subjecting patients to unnecessary and dangerous medical treatments and diagnostic procedures. Global health research faces new and powerful opportunities to develop better diagnostics and therapeutics for both infectious and non-communicable diseases. Vigorous U.S. support of biomedical research in all these areas promises to save lives, reduce the burden of chronic illness, stimulate the economy, empower new and more effective prevention strategies, and reduce health care costs.
Based on scientific opportunity, increases will be targeted to many trans-NIH specific programs, including:
Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND) program: NIH plans to provide an additional $26 million in FY 2011 to expand this program to a total of $50 million. TRND will bridge the wide gap in time and resources that often exist between basic research and human testing of new drugs and encourage and speed the development of new drugs for rare and neglected diseases. This program is grounded in, and is intended to complement, existing processes for drug development in the pharmaceutical industry.
Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA): The request includes a total investment of $500 million for CTSAs. These awards were developed and implemented to reduce the time it takes for laboratory discoveries to become treatments for patients, to engage communities in clinical research efforts, and to train a new generation of clinical and translational researchers.
Basic Behavioral and Social Sciences Opportunity Network (OppNet): The FY 2011 funding level of $20 million expands this initiative, which was launched by NIH in FY 2010 through funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This trans-NIH initiative furthers our understanding of fundamental mechanisms and patterns of behavioral and social functioning relevant to the Nation’s health and well-being, as they interact with each other, with biology, and the environment. Research results will lead to new approaches for reducing risky behaviors and improving health.
Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards: A total of $824.4 million, which is a 6.0 percent increase over the FY 2010, will be directed to training stipends. This increase sends a clear message to both existing and “would be” scientists that their efforts are valued.
National Nanotechnology Initiative: NIH plans to direct $382 million, $22 million or 6.0 percent above the FY 2010 level for NIEHS to continue its efforts in applying technological advancements to a wide array of human health, environmental protection, and safety issues and concerns.
National Synchrotron Light Source-II (NSLS-II): NIH plans to provide $33 million in FY 2011 to the Department of Energy’s construction of a high performance synchrotron light source. In FY 2010 the National Center on Research Resources will contribute $12 million from their ARRA funds. The FY 2010 and FY 2011 combined investment will be $45 million for this promising tool for use by the biomedical research community
AIDS Research Program: The FY 2011 request increases the AIDS research program by $98.7 million or 3.2 percent to $3,184 million. This program is the largest and most significant effort in AIDS research in the world. In addition, NIH will transfer $300 million to the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Cancer and Autism Spectrum Disorders Research: The FY 2011 budget request will continue and reinforce cancer research and investigations into the causes of and treatments for autism spectrum disorders.
NIH Will Give Less and Demand More in 2010
The Chronicle of Higher Education published an interesting article on the potential changes being proposed at NIH. These changes will most definitely change the way universities compete for and conduct NIH-funded research. Read the entire article here.
Majority Leader Unveils Senate Health Care Bill
Last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) released the long awaited health insurance reform package that merges bills advanced by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590), would cost roughly $848 billion over 10 years and to extend coverage to 31 million people by 2019. However, it would leave 24 million without coverage.
Full Bill: HR 3590 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Senator Reid’s bill includes a public insurance option with a state opt-out, and creates state-based insurance exchanges to expand access to affordable insurance and create new non-profit co-ops. Initial procedural votes on the legislation could take place as early as this weekend. Analysis of the Senate health reform legislation will be available momentarily.