Dear Chairman Obey and Ranking Member Walsh:
 
As you and your colleagues develop the final House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2008 with the Senate, we respectfully request that you adopt a funding level for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the final appropriations bill that is at least equal to the Senate level. 

While we had hoped that this year would be the first of several to enact funding levels needed to reverse years of erosion of NIH funding, we recognize that budgetary constraints and competing priorities require difficult choices.  Nevertheless, as you know, the NIH is our country’s engine of public health and biomedical research. Much of the world-class research conducted across our country and the scientific advances that our health care system relies on are made possible through funding from the NIH. This vital work gives hope to American families who are facing terrible diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s.

Over the past five years, funding for NIH has fallen far behind biomedical inflation. Each year in which NIH funding fails to keep pace with inflation results in fewer research grants, forfeited clinical trials, research lab layoffs, phasing out of research programs, reduced interest in research careers and declining morale, especially in the ranks of young investigators.

As you know, the House bill provides $29,349,887,000 exclusively for the NIH. Although this funding level represents an increase for NIH over the President’s request and a 1.9% increase over last year’s budget, this funding does not keep pace with biomedical inflation. While the $29.89 billion for NIH in the Senate bill does not match biomedical inflation either, it does provide a greater increase over FY07. Accordingly, in the final bill, we encourage you to support an increase for NIH at least equal to the Senate level and, if possible, additional funding to keep NIH a pace with biomedical inflation. 

We appreciate the many demands confronting your Committee and understand the need for prudent investment of scarce resources. Yet, if we are to improve the health of Americans and improve the quality of their longer lives, Congress must provide adequate funding for health research.

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