House Fails to Override President’s Veto of NIH Spending Bill

November 16, 2007 – Last night, prior to adjourning for the Thanksgiving recess, the U.S. House of Representatives failed to override President Bush’s veto of the fiscal year (FY) 2008 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill (H.R. 3043) by a vote of 277-141 – just two votes shy of the count needed to override. The vetoed bill had included $30 billion for NIH in FY 2008 (a net increase of $899 million (3.1 percent) over FY 2007 levels). A Continuing Resolution (CR) will extend funding at FY 2007 levels for NIH and other federal programs through December 14.

Congressional leaders are still uncertain of how they will proceed with the remainder of the unfinished FY 2008 appropriations bills when they return in early December, though they have indicated that an "omnibus" bill contain funding for all federal agencies and programs outside of the Department of Defense is currently the "best case scenario" for completing the remaining funding bills. Though precise funding levels for programs such as NIH have not been discussed, the omnibus bill will attempt to reach a compromise between the wide differences in funding levels requested by the President and Congress and will likely mean funding for NIH in FY 2008 that falls short of the 3.1 percent increase called for in H.R. 3043.

A second option that congressional leaders are exploring is a longer-term CR that would extend funding at FY 2007 until at least the early part of calendar year 2008 and potentially through the end of the 2008 fiscal year.

ASH thanks all the Grassroots Network members who participated in recent advocacy efforts to contact members of the House and Senate to urge their support in voting to override the presidential veto of the NIH funding bill. Please continue to visit the ASH Web site for the latest updates on NIH funding and the ASH Advocacy Center for future campaigns in support of NIH funding.

If you have any questions, or need additional information, please contact ASH Research Advocacy Manager Tracy Becker at tbecker@hematology.org or 202-776-0544.