 |
 |
The Senate and House Appropriations Committees have marked up Labor, HHS, Education Spending Bills for fY 04. See THOMAS for status and links to the bills. http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app04.html When there are differences between the House and Senate bills - such as the appropriations for the NIH - the House and Senate appropriations committees will meet to hammer out the differences and produce a Conference Report. The full house and senate then must approve the spending bills. NOTE: Pres. Bush asked for a 3% increase in NIH funding. Patient advocates have asked for around 10% increase for FY04. Both the Senate and House versions fall in between these 2 amounts. Some details on health and PD related appropriations: House of Rep. Appropriations bill: "Full Committee Approves FY04 Labor, HHS, Education Spending Bill full details at : http://www.house.gov/appropriations/news/108_1/04lhfull.htm Medical Research and Health Programs "National Institutes of Health continues our commitment to the NIH by providing $27.664 billion, $682 million more than last year. This is an increase of more than 7 percent because of one-time costs in FY03. Centers for Disease Control funding is $4.55 billion, $57 million above last year and $233 million above the budget request. " SENATE: Senate Rpt.108-081 - DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATION BILL, 2004 full details at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&dbname=cp108&maxdocs=100&report=s r081.108&sel=TOC_10986& excerpts: "National Institutes of Health- A total of $27,982,604,000 is recommended to fund biomedical research at the 27 Institutes and Centers that comprise the NIH. This represents an increase of $1,000,000,000 over the fiscal year 2003 level and $318,613,000 over the budget request. Centers for Disease Control- The Committee bill provides $4,432,496,000 for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an increase of $147,856,000 over the fiscal 2003 level. Included in this amount is $801,844,000 for chronic disease prevention and health promotion of which $50,000,000 for obesity prevention." PD -related language: "The Committee appreciates that understanding the deleterious effects of neurological disorders on cognition and behavior will allow for the design of more effective treatment and rehabilitation strategies including behavioral interventions. The Committee encourages the NINDS to continue supporting research on the cognitive and behavioral deficits associated with epilepsy, autism, stroke, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, migraine, and neurofibromatosis. " Parkinson's Disease- The Committee is aware that the Parkinson's Disease Research Agenda developed by NIH in 2000 included professional judgment funding projections that totaled an additional $1,000,000,000 over 5 years to achieve a cure. The Committee strongly urges the NIH to come as close as possible to fulfilling that Agenda while maintaining the standards of peer review. The Committee is greatly concerned, therefore, to learn that despite strong congressional support for the aims of the Research Agenda, the NIH's projected Parkinson's funding of $242,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 again falls substantially short of the $400,000,000 professional judgment budget estimate cited by the Research Agenda for that year. The Committee commends the Director, NIH, for stating his commitment to develop and implement a thorough plan for Parkinson's research, and for the initial steps taken. However, the NIH has failed to devote the resources necessary to implement it and has failed to date to fill a key leadership position, Director of NINDS. The Committee strongly urges the NIH to devote additional resources to Parkinson's research, as recommended by the Research Agenda, using all available mechanisms, including RFAs, further support of initiatives such as those begun at NINDS and NIEHS, and the Genome Institute's proteomics initiative, among others. The Committee expects the NIH to report to Congress by April 2004, on the steps it is taking to fulfill the Parkinson's Disease Research Agenda and to implement the Director's plan for Parkinson's research. " ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn