NIH funding still below pre-sequestration levels under new spending bill

The bipartisan appropriations deal reached by Congress has only partially restored the National Institute of Health's funding to pre-sequestration levels, setting aside $29.93 billion for the next year.

The bill, drafted by House Appropriations Chair Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and Senate Appropriations Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), appropriates $29.93 billion for 2014, $1 billion more than after 2013 sequestration cuts kicked in, but still $714 million less than was enacted prior to sequestration.

“The FY14 omnibus spending bill falls short of restoring funding for lifesaving National Institutes of Health (NIH) biomedical research,” said Carrie Wolinetz, president of United for Medical Research, a coalition of leading research and medical institutions.

The funding is below what White House and Senate Democrats had expected, with House Democrats saying that it was $714 million less than "the 2013 enacted level" of $30.648 billion.

The NIH says the funding is $950 million less than its 2012 appropriation.

The number is lower than what it was during President Obama's first year in office, and when adjusted for inflation it is lower than it was in every year but the first of George W. Bush's presidency.

The much smaller National Science Foundation is getting $7.2 billion in FY14, about $82 million less than pre-sequestration levels last year.

The $1.1 trillion spending bill does provide $63 billion in sequestration relief, to be split equally between defense and non-defense departments, with most of the non-defense departments jostling for a piece.

[Huffington Post] [Washington Post]