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I'm sure using up a lot of cyber soapbox space today, but someone earlier asked about the NIH fiscal 1999 appropriations in Congress, I had been trying to find out myself, and news articles are finally starting to appear. Here's what I saw so far, and if anyone has further info, I'd be grateful. The remaining 8 appropriations bills to fund federal government operations for fiscal 1999, which Congress had been so very late to address, and which include appropriations for NIH, were rolled into one huge omnibus bill which Congressional leaders and the White House agreed to today. This is the biggest Congressional bill ever, and the goal is to have it passed by Congress on Tuesday. According to an article at www.washingtonpost.com, the National Institutes of Health will receive a $2 billion increase for fiscal 1999. "Research has been a popular cause on Capitol Hill, even among conservative Republicans generally opposed to big government spending," the Post article said. This takes the NIH appropriations from $13.6 billion in 1998 to $15.6 billion in 1999, a 14.7 percent increase. A 14 percent increase every year will double the NIH funding in 5 years, a goal which some members of Congress have advocated. Researchers, get your grant proposals ready. I could not find any details about Udall more recent than the original separate House and Senate Labor/Health & Human Services /Education bills plus the accompanying committee reports as they have existed at the Library of Congress web site http://thomas.loc.gov ever since they were approved by their respective appropriations committees. Unless someone makes contact with Congress, it will be several days before the big bill is made available on the web where we can learn of any possible changes in the Udall provisions. I suppose there could be further amendments before Tuesday, but this being such a monstrous bill and Congress being so anxious to adjourn, I would guess that there will be no Udall changes -- but, hey, who am I to say? Phil Tompkins Hoboken NJ age 60/dx 1990