Latest News
News Stories
NIH Reauthorization: House Committee Passes NIH Reauthorization Bill
Medical News Today
September 25, 2006
The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday voted to approve a bill that would reauthorize NIH for the first time since 1993, CQ Today reports (Wayne, CQ Today, 9/20).
Reauthorization allows lawmakers to make structural and administrative changes to NIH in addition to those made indirectly through approval of the agency budget.
Under the legislation, the NIH budget would increase by 5% annually for fiscal years 2007 through 2009. The bill also would establish a "common fund" to subsidize research that involves multiple NIH institutes or centers.
In addition, the legislation would establish a review board to examine the structure of NIH and would require the agency to implement an electronic system to track research grants and other actions (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 9/20).
The bill, proposed by committee Chair Joe Barton (R-Texas), was approved 42-1, with Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) voting against the measure. The committee rejected two measures proposed by Markey (CQ Today, 9/20).
One of Markey's amendments would have increased funding for the institutes, and the other would have ensured funding for the institutes did not decrease (Lee, CongressDaily, 9/21).
The panel also opposed a measure introduced by Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) that would have barred NIH's director from eliminating any institutes or centers within the agency that were created by an act of Congress.
In addition, the panel rejected another amendment from Capps that would have required the agency to fund research into the connection between breast cancer and environmental factors. Barton said, "If we are serious about putting NIH in the best position it can be to conduct cross-cutting research, ... we at some point have to say, 'Let the NIH be the NIH,' and stop micromanaging" (CQ Today, 9/20).
Barton said he would try to get the NIH reauthorization bill to President Bush by the end of the year (CongressDaily, 9/21).
Senator Tom Coburn's activity on the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2254 Fax: 202-228-3796
|
