107th Congress

Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2003

P.L. 107-248 (H.R. 5010, House Report 107-532, Senate Report 107-213, and Conference Report/House Report 107-732)

Impact of Public Law

H.R. 5010, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2003, was one of only two appropriations bills cleared for the President before the adjournment of the 107th Congress. (The other appropriations measure passed for fiscal year [FY] 2003 was the Military Construction Appropriations.) For the National Institutes of Health (NIH), this legislation contained specific language to prohibit the transfer of the medical free electron laser to NIH, a proposal contained in the President's FY 2003 request for NIH.

The Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, 2003, provides a total of $355.1 billion in new appropriations for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), $21 billion more than the level appropriated for DoD in FY 2002, but $11.6 billion less than requested by the Department. This includes funding of $14.8 billion for the Defense Health Program, of which $459 million is for research and development, which may be of interest to NIH. In particular, the bill includes funding for:

• Cancer Research ($150 million in unrequested funds for research and treatment related to breast cancer, and $85 million for basic and clinical prostate cancer research)
• Bone Marrow ($28.9 million to be administered by the C.W. Bill Young Marrow Donor Recruitment and Research Program. Commonly known as the Bone Marrow Registry, the program has recruited over 300,000 DoD volunteers and provides more bone marrow donors per week than any center in the country.)
• HIV/AIDS ($7 million earmarked for global HIV/AIDS prevention, and $6 million earmarked for HIV research programs)

Legislative provisions of particular interest to NIH within the Defense Health Program are as follows.

• Bill Language: $7 million shall be available for HIV prevention educational activities undertaken in connection with U.S. military training, exercises, and humanitarian assistance activities conducted primarily in African nations.
• Conference Report:
• Peer Review: The conferees agreed to provide $50 million for this program and recommend the following projects as candidates for study: acellular matrix research for military orthopedic trauma, alcoholism research, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, anti-diarrhea supplement, Army nutrition research, augmented care in the chain of stroke survival (ACCESS), blood-related cancer research, bone-related disease research, cell response to anti-cancer agents, Mount Sinai cancer research program, casualty care research center, chiropractic care, epilepsy, infectious disease tracking system, interstitial cystitis research, low vision research, medical digital assistance, miniature renal assist devices, natural toxin detection technology, neuroscience research, Paget's disease, personal intelligent medical assistant, Providence Cancer Center, respiratory research, smoking cessation, social work research, and Volume Angio CAT (VAC) research.
• Medical Free Electron Laser: The conferees agreed that the work universities are doing in conjunction with DoD to develop the medical free electron laser is vital to addressing a wide variety of research problems that are important to military personnel and civilian populations. The conferees provide $12 million to continue research within DoD for this program and expect that these funds, along with any associated outyear funding, be retained within DoD. There is specific language included in the bill to prohibit the transfer of this program to NIH, a proposal contained in the President's FY 2003 request for NIH.
• Anthrax Vaccine Supply Preparedness: The conferees are concerned about the adequacy of the supply of and production capacity for the only Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-licensed anthrax vaccine currently available in the United States to protect military and civilian defense personnel from the demonstrated and potential future threat of anthrax. The Secretary of Defense is directed to provide a report that assesses the immediate and short-term preparedness and potential future total biowarfare defense need for the FDA-licensed anthrax vaccine, the potential need for expanded production capacity to meet that need, and the need for a separate production capacity to mitigate risks of an event that could result in a halt to current vaccine production. The Secretary is required to submit this report to the congressional defense committees within 90 days after enactment of this Act.
• Pseudofolliculitis Barbe (PFB): The conferees agreed that PFB is a serious condition that affects many African-American military personnel and deserves additional attention. The conferees strongly encourage DoD to act quickly on a plan of action to initiate research into more effective treatments and control of this problem.
• Chemical and Biological Defense Initiatives Fund: This fund will be within DoD's Chemical and Biological Defense program and will provide an increase of $25 million for this purpose. The Secretary of Defense is directed to allocate these funds among the program proposals listed: the National Center for Biodefense, Chem-Bio Threat Mitigation Technologies, Global Pathogen Science Portal, Advanced Sensors for Chem-Bio Agents, Rapid Sensitive Biowarfare Protection, Diagnostic Tool for Biowarfare, Ultra-High Field Instrumentation, Urban Security Initiative, Chemical Imaging Biothreat Detection, Biological Agent Sensor/Detection System, Chem-Bio Air Filtration System, Food Safety and Security Sensors, Bioinformatics, Phylogenetic- and PCR-Based Detector System Field Portable Nucleic Acid Bioterrorism Detection, LISA-Inspector Transportable Chem-Bio Detection System, Distributed Chemical Agent Sensing and Transmission, Wide-Area Standoff Chem-Bio Agent Detection System, Air Purification for Protection System, Rapid Antibody-Based Countermeasures, Oral Anthrax Antibiotic, Plant Vaccine Development, Rapid Response Sensor Networking for Multiple Applications, and Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF).
• Chronic Multisymptom Illnesses: The conferees have provided $5.2 million to extend research on chronic multisymptom illnesses with a special focus on the relationship between Gulf War illnesses and other diseases, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and multiple chemical sensitivity. Within this amount, up to $2 million may be made available for research in the Upper Great Plains region.
• Defense Health Program Projects and Funding Levels: HIV Research Program—$6.3 million; Army Peer Reviewed Breast Cancer Research Program—$1.5 million; Army Peer Reviewed Prostate Cancer Research Program—$85 million; Chronic Mylogenous Leukemia Research—$4.25 million; Muscular Dystrophy Research—$3.4 million; Neuroscience Research* —$5.95 million; Nursing Telehealth Research Program—$2.55 million; Ovarian Cancer Research Program—$10 million; Peer Reviewed Breast Cancer Imaging Research—$6 million; Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Research—$2 million; Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program—$50 million; Comprehensive Breast Care Project (CBCP)—$12.75 million; Coronary and Prostate Disease Reversal Program—$5.1 million; Global HIV/AIDS Prevention** —$7 million; Military Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Mil-CAM)—$2 million; Periscopic Surgery Research Project—$2.55 million; Post-Polio Syndrome—$3.4 million; U.S. Military Cancer Institute at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences—$2.55 million; Shared BL-3 Biocontainment Research Facility—$500,000; Chiropractic Initiative—$750,000; Automated Clinical Practices Guidelines—$6.37 million

Legislative History

H.R. 5010 was introduced by Representative Jerry Lewis (R-CA) on June 25, 2002, was reported by the House Appropriations Committee the same day (House Report 107-532), and was passed by the House on June 27. This legislation was reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 18 (Senate Report 107-213), and passed by the Senate on August 1. The Conference Report was filed in the House on October 9, 2002 (House Report 107-732). The House agreed to the Conference Report on October 10, and the Senate agreed to the Conference Report on October 16. The President signed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2003, into law on October 23 as P.L. 107-248.

* Only for coordinated effort among DoD medical treatment facilities and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, a primary healthcare center, with funding management accomplished by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

** This is the same program that was also referenced in the bill language. These are not additional funds.