Obama wants extra $1B for NIH as GOP eyes cut
The White House wants an extra $1B for the NIH as House Republicans are targeting the biomedical research agency for cuts in spending bill.
The Obama administration pegged NIH funding for fiscal 2012 at $32.3B, up 3.3% from the current $31.3B. The National Science Foundation would get 13% more funding, with an increase to $7.8B from $6.9B.
- At the NIH, some 83% of spending would be allocated to programs at hospitals and universities, with the rest funding research work at NIH’s facilities in Bethesda, MD;
- But Republicans in the House of Representatives, eager to fulfill their deficit-cutting pledge want to cut the NIH budget .
The Bottom Line: The president says some R&D spending should be immune from budget cuts, because research is an investment in the future that “creates and sustains companies, products and jobs,” the budget proposal says. In contrast, other government programs would sustain up to $90B in spending cuts in the president’s budget. NIH funding is relatively flat, considering the 3.5% inflation rate in biomedical research.
