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Bush announces increase in health funding February 23, 2001 Web posted at: 12:19 PM EST (1719 GMT) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Friday he would seek a $2.8 billion increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health for the next fiscal year. "We recognize the federal government plays a very important role in researching cures for disease, and, therefore, our budget increases the NIH budget for 2002 by $2.8 billion, the largest increase in that department's history," the president said at a meeting with Mitch Daniels, director of the Office of Management and Budget. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said last year's budget allotted $20.4 billion for the NIH, and $23.1 billion will be allotted for the agency in the budget Bush will unveil Tuesday in a joint address to Congress. A blueprint of Bush's budget will be sent to Capitol Hill on Wednesday. "He believes that this money will help them do a better job, have more resources to cure and fight diseases, including cancer and Parkinson's, up and down the line," Fleischer said. Bush will travel Wednesday to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Thursday to Little Rock, Arkansas and Atlanta, Georgia to build support for his budget. http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/02/23/bush.nih/index.html ************