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"Maintaining his commitment to doubling NIH's funding by 2003 is one of the most important initiatives in the President's budget. This funding level will enable NIH to support the highest level of new and competing research project grants, and the highest level of total research project grants, in NIH history," Secretary Thompson said. "Grants that will help Brown University and research and medical institutions across the country take on the challenges that will save lives - and improve the quality of life for everyone."

NIH is the largest and most distinguished biomedical research organization in the world. The research that NIH conducts and supports, from the most basic research on biological systems to the effort to map the human genome, offers the promise of breakthroughs in preventing and treating a number of diseases.

President Bush's budget proposal to increase NIH funding by $2.75 billion demonstrates the administration's commitment to doubling NIH's fiscal year 1998 funding level by fiscal year 2003. The proposed 13 percent increase over last year's funding level represents the largest one-year increase in the institutes' history.

The innovative research conducted at Brown University serves as a real-world example of how NIH funding is used. Over the past two years, the university has received nearly $50 million in NIH research funding. NIH has also awarded the university a $2-million grant from its Research Facilities Improvement Program to pay for a portion of the construction costs of Brown's planned Life Sciences Building.

In addition to biomedical research, the administration has identified a number of priority needs throughout HHS. President Bush has called for a commitment of $153 billion over the next 10 years for Medicare modernization to help improve the financial health of the program and to add a prescription drug benefit for all Medicare beneficiaries. The President's budget seeks to strengthen the health care safety net of those most in need by proposing an increase in funding for community health centers of $124 million this year -- a first installment in a goal to increase the number of these centers by 1,200 and double the number of people served by the year 2006. The President's budget plan also includes a commitment of an additional $100 million to improve access to treatment for substance abuse.

"The President's budget blueprint is a responsible and sustainable plan for our nation," said Secretary Thompson. "It invests in our families, in our health, and in our future."

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