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The following excerpt is from today's New York Times online, "Report on the Budget: Health," by Robert Pear. Hopefully the NIH budget will be increased after all the negotiations are through. Senator Harkin's remarks (see last paragraph) are yet another sign of the increased awareness about Parkinson's among politicians. Lately whenever mention is made of medical research funding, PD often is included. This certainly wasn't true in the past. Now let's get all the talk resulting in actual funding increases. Linda Herman New York Times: Report on the Budget: "...President Clinton proposes a relatively modest increase in the budget of the National Institutes of Health, the pre-eminent sponsor of biomedical research in the United States. In 1998, Congress approved an increase of $2 billion, or 15 percent, so the institutes would have a total of $15.6 billion in the current fiscal year. Clinton proposes a further increase of $320 million, or 2.1 percent, for a total of $15.9 billion in 2000. Even Donna E. Shalala, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, said such abrupt changes in the growth of Federal support for scientific research were unwise. "I would prefer that it was larger," Dr. Shalala said. "I don't think that the roller-coaster effect, going up and going down, is an effective way to invest in the nation's scientific infrastructure." Clinton said his proposal was consistent with his commitment, made before the 1999 budget was adopted last year, to increase the N.I.H. budget by 50 percent over five years. In contrast, members of Congress from both parties are determined to double the institutes' budget over five years, and Administration officials said Clinton could propose small increases in the knowledge that Congress would add to them. Still, Senators Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, and Connie Mack, Republican of Florida, said they were disappointed with the President's proposal for biomedical research. "This represents a regrettable retreat in the search for medical breakthroughs," Harkin said. Senator Mack said: "The President's proposed budget means a cease-fire in the war against cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other diseases. It is unacceptable."