Committee Approves First NIH Reauthorization In 13 Years
Breast cancer amendment rejected
By Kristen A. Lee
CongressDailyAM
September 21, 2006
The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed legislation Wednesday to reauthorize the National Institutes of Health after beating back Democratic efforts to increase the level of funding for the agency.
Energy and Commerce Chairman Barton kept his vow to write a bill with no disease-specific provisions when the panel narrowly defeated an amendment that would have created research centers to study environmental causes of breast cancer.
The NIH bill authorizes 5 percent annual increases to the agency through FY09. Democrats complained that a 5 percent boost would do little more than keep pace with the rate of medical research inflation as determined by the Biomedical Research and Development Price Index.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., the only member of the committee to vote against final passage, introduced two amendments to further increase funding, but both were defeated on party-line votes. "We're nickel-and-diming NIH research," he said.
The first amendment would have boosted funding to 5 percent above the index. The second would have ensured that money provided for a common fund established in the bill would not decrease funds provided to individual institutes. The common fund was created to support collaborative initiatives among institutes.
Barton argued that a larger increase would not get past the Appropriations committees. "A 5 percent authorization over three years in a row is real, and it's going to be tough to do," he said. He noted that Congress doubled funding to NIH from 1998 to 2003.
The breast cancer amendment, offered by Reps. Henry Waxman and Lois Capps, both D-Calif., was also rejected on a party-line vote.
The amendment sparked an emotional debate between Democrats, who wanted to support constituents afflicted with the disease, and Republicans, who argued that NIH rather than Congress should set research priorities.
"We have to say 'let the NIH be the NIH' and stop attempting to micromanage, even with the best of intentions," said Barton.
Barton said he would work to get a bill on President Bush's desk by the end of the year. This would be the first NIH reauthorization in 13 years.
Senator Tom Coburn
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
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