Senate Appropriations Committee Clears $2B Boost to NIH Budget
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The US Senate’s appropriations committee today approved a funding bill that would increase the National Institutes of Health’s fiscal 2018 budget by $2 billion to $36.1 billion.
The bill — which was cleared by the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday — was approved by the full appropriations committee by a 30-1 vote.
Of the total allocated to the NIH, $1.8 billion is earmarked for Alzheimer’s disease research, representing a $414 million increase over fiscal 2017; $400 million for the BRAIN Initiative, $140 million more than last fiscal year; and a $60 million increase to $290 million for the All of Us precision medicine program. The National Cancer Institute’s precision medicine program received a $10 million increase to $80 million under the fiscal 2018 funding bill; while $513 million was committed to fighting antibiotic-resistance bacteria, a $50 million increase over the previous fiscal year.
“This bill upholds important investments in programs that affect all Americans,” Appropriations Committee Chairman Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) said in a statement. “It deserves consideration by the Senate.”
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