ACTION ADVISORY
TO: Parkinson's-affected community
FROM: Joan I. Samuelson
DATE: May 24, 1995
RE: 1996 BUDGET -- HATFIELD AMENDMENT ON NIH
Advisory: Please be advised that earlier today, Senator Hatfield's
amendment to
restore the deep cut in NIH funding was passed by a vote of 85-14. The
budget under
discussion, as proposed by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici,
originally
contained a 10% cut in the National Institutes of Health. The Hatfield
amendment takes the
cuts across the board from other programs (except Defense) and puts NIH
funding back at
1995 level. (This is a brief summary; we hope to have the exact text of the
amendment
soon.)
Senator Hatfield hoped originally to take the cut from the Defense
Department, which
already receives in excess of $250 billion in funding, but he could not
develop adequate
support for that proposal.
An adequate NIH budget is essential to our hope to get anything near
adequate
funding for Parkinson's research support. Even level funding (equal to 1995)
means an
effective cut, due to annual biomedical inflation of approximately four per
cent. Meanwhile,
Parkinson's research receives far less than most other research areas, and
badly needs an
increase in funding.
Keep in mind that this vote comes in the midst of this process, and
could be improved
upon by further amendment, or cut back by further amendment, or cut or
eliminated in House
or House-Senate conference action.
Action: 1) Keep mentioning the necessity of adequate NIH funding in the
1996
budget in your discussions. 2) Thank Senator Hatfield.
