2010-02-01

President Obama has released the details of his FY 2011 budget proposal.

Despite calling for a freeze in federal discretionary spending during his State of the Union address on January 27, the President reaffirmed his commitment to biomedical research by proposing approximately $32.089 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in FY 2011, a 3.2 percent increase over the final FY 2010 funding levels that were enacted in December of last year. Below is a summary of the proposed budget numbers for Institutes of particular interest to ASH:

The proposed budget seeks “to accelerate progress in biomedical research, NIH investments will focus on priority areas including genomics, translational research, science to support health-care reform, global health, and reinvigorating the biomedical research community.”

The proposed budget also includes language maintaining President Obama’s commitment to cancer research across NIH through support of “a range of bold and innovative cancer efforts, including the initiation of 30 new drug trials in 2011, and a doubling of the number of novel compounds in Phase 1–3 clinical trials by 2016.” Additionally, the President’s budget proposal supports “the completion of a comprehensive catalog of cancer mutations for the 20 most common malignancies," setting the stage for complete genomic characterization of every cancer as part of medical care within 10 years.

The President’s proposal includes $6.342 billion in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a decrease from the $6.467 billion CDC received in FY 2010.

It is important to remember that the President’s proposal represents the opening bid in a lengthy federal budget process and that the proposal will be modified significantly by Congress. In the coming weeks, Obama Administration representatives will be called to testify before Congress on the President’s proposals. Congress will then be tasked with drafting and passing its FY 2011 budget resolution, a nonbinding blueprint that provides a framework for the spending bills that the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will draft later this spring.

Now is the time to contact your Senators and Representative to generate their interest in supporting FY 2011 NIH funding. ASH will continue its advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill during the FY 2011 budget debate and encourages all members to visit the ASH Advocacy Center to take action to help influence the budget process and support increased funding for NIH. Your Senators and Representative need to hear from you about ensuring adequate NIH funding in FY 2011.

ASH will continue to keep its membership informed about each step in the debate toward the completion of the FY 2011 federal budget, with frequent updates posted on the Society's Web site. More detailed information about the President's FY 2011 Budget Request for the Department of Health and Human Services is also available online, as is a detailed summary of the proposed NIH budget.

If you have questions, please contact ASH Research Advocacy Manager Tracy Roades at 202-776-0544 or troades@hematology.org.

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