107th Congress

2001 Supplemental Appropriations Act

P.L. 107-20 (H.R. 2216, House Report 107-102, S. 1077, Senate Report 107-33, and House Report 107-148)

Impact of Public Law

Public Law (P.L.) 107-20, the 2001 Supplemental Appropriations Act, which was signed into law on July 24, 2001, included 1) provisions to permit the transfer of funds from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Buildings and Facilities account to complete the design phase of a new NLM facility, 2) report language to permit the new National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) to use funds appropriated to the NIH Office of the Director (OD) for start up of the new Institute, and 3) language directing that information requested from the Committee on Appropriations was to be transmitted "uncensored and without delay."

Legislative History

H.R. 2216 was introduced by Representative C. W. (Bill) Young (R-FL), Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, on June 19, 2001, (House Report 107-102). On June 20, 2001, the bill was passed by the House by a vote of 341 to 87. On June 21, the Senate Committee on Appropriations reported its own version, S. 1077, the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2001 (Senate Report 107-33). S. 1077 included language that would permit funds appropriated to the NIH OD in fiscal year (FY) 2001 for the Office of Biomedical Imaging, Bioinformatics, and Bioengineering to be transferred to NIBIB. H.R. 2216 did not contain this language or any language relevant to NIH. On July 10, the Senate passed S. 1077 by a vote of 92 to 1. The Conference Report, House Report 107-148, was filed on July 19, and passed the House on July 20 by a vote of 375 to 30, and passed the Senate by unanimous consent. The President signed the measure into Public Law on July 24.

As introduced in the House, the bill would have provided $7.48 billion in new FY 2001 spending, with $1.43 billion in offsets. Most of the spending ($6.74 billion) was to be for defense accounts, and there was no provision relevant to NIH. The Senate version included bill language which would have permitted the expenditure of NIH OD funds for NIBIB, a provision that survived but only as conference report language, not bill language.

During Senate deliberations, the issue of disaster relief funds was raised by Members of the Texas delegation. On June 9, 2001, Tropical Storm Allison deposited excessive amounts of rain on the city of Houston, Texas, resulting in severe damage to the medical centers at the University of Texas Health Science Center and Baylor College of Medicine. NIH was asked by Members of the Texas delegation to come to Houston to assess the damage. Dr. Wendy Baldwin, Deputy Director for Extramural Research, Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), and others visited the research institutions. The Secretary of HHS promised that NIH would provide emergency funding supplements to existing grants this year to replace damaged or lost research resources. Because of the immediate need, he said funds could be used immediately to lease equipment prior to approval to buy new equipment. In addition, NIH offered to extend application deadlines so institutions could submit requests for construction grants for research and animal facilities and waived the normal requirement for matching funds from the institutions. There was some indication that emergency funds for relief for these research institutions might be included in the supplemental appropriations (in some manner involving NIH), but in the end, this did not occur.

Final provisions that were included in the supplemental appropriations were as follows:

• NLM: The conference bill language transfers "$7,115,000 from the National Library of Medicine to the Buildings and Facilities account to complete the design phase of a National Library of Medicine facility." (The House and Senate bills contained no similar provision.)
• NIBIB: Conference Report language states that "the conferees further understand that the National Institutes of Health will use funds appropriated to the Office of the Director to proceed with the planning and start-up activities of the newly authorized National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering." (The House bill contained no similar provision.)
• Statement of the Managers: General Departmental Management—"The conferees are displeased with the way in which the Department of Health and Human Services has handled responses to the May 4, 2001, stem cell letter and its refusal to provide to the Committee on Appropriations the report, 'Stem Cells: Scientific Progress and Future Research Directions,' when requested. The conferees direct that specific information requests from the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies, on stem cell research or any other matter, shall be transmitted to the Committee on Appropriations in a prompt professional manner, and within the timeframe specified in the request. The conferees further direct that scientific information requested by the Committee on Appropriations and prepared by Government researchers and scientists, be transmitted to the Committee on Appropriations uncensored and without delay." (The House and Senate bills contained no similar provision.)