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The top Democrat and Republican on the U.S. House of Representatives' education and health care appropriations subcommittee said Wednesday they will not only not consider the $3.3 billion cut in National Institutes of Health funding proposed by President Trump, but they plan to increase NIH funding.
“This subcommittee will not be pursuing these cuts. We intend to move forward with continued investment in NIH to build on the progress we’ve made in recent years,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro, the Connecticut Democrat who chairs the subcommittee.
That Trump’s proposal faces opposition is no surprise. Congress, with bipartisan support, has increased NIH funding by $11.6 billion, or 39 percent, over the past five years, including a $2.6 billion increase last year.
The proposed 7.9 percent cut would result in the NIH giving nearly 1,800 fewer grants to researchers next year.
The panel’s top Republican, Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, echoed DeLauro, saying the subcommittee intends to increase NIH funding again, “if we can find any way to do it, and I think we will.”
Referring to the coronavirus outbreak, he said, “The current situation that we have is frankly a reminder we need to do this. We can’t show up on game day and do it. You have to have investments made over many years.”
