Senators Specter, Harkin & Feinstein Introduce Amendment to Increase Spending by $1.5 billion
for the National Institutes of Health

- Supported by more than 575 health organizations,
the amendment would direct the funding specifically for biomedical research -

September 10, 2003

Washington DC - U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA), Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) today introduced an amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill that would increase funding for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health by $1.5 billion for Fiscal Year 2004.

"Simply put, this is an amendment that will save lives," Senator Feinstein said. "This additional funding is vital to the health of the nation and the world, and it is critical to ensuring that researchers can continue the remarkable pace of medical advances achieved during the past 5 years, when funding for NIH doubled."

In its present form, the Senate bill would increase funding for NIH by $1 billion, or just 3.7 percent, for a total of $27.98 billion. This would be the smallest percentage increase for NIH since 1995. As a result, the number of new and competing non-biodefense research grants would actually drop, from 9,902 in FY03 to 9,827 in FY04. That is a loss of 75 non-biodefense research grants in FY 2004 under the Senate proposal.

The challenges facing our nation's health today are enormous:

• Over the next 30 years, cancer will surpass heart disease and become the leading cause of death as the Baby Boomers age.



• AIDS is now the leading cause of death among Americans ages 25 to 44.
  

• Rates of diabetes and asthma are on the rise.



• Our aging population presents formidable challenges, from understanding diseases like Alzheimer's to improving overall geriatric care.
  

At the same time, a new generation of drugs are positioned to accelerate treating cancer, but they may never get past the starting line without adequate research funding. Drugs such as Gleevec for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and Herceptin for breast cancer target only cancer cells and are less toxic than older, less effective treatments.

These targeted drugs are the future of cancer care. But adequate funding is needed to ensure these drugs move from the "bench to the bedside" quickly. Consider Robert Strong, who was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in February 2003. Robert was put on Gleevec and after two weeks, his oncologist said he had an "unbelievably good response." Robert is now able to keep up with his young children and never had to be hospitalized.

The NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute is looking at therapeutic ways to protect and improve mental function following heart artery bypass surgery. Each year, an estimated 314,000 patients in the U.S. have heart artery bypass surgery. And while this procedure increases longevity and heart function, a large percentage of the patients experience memory loss and other undesirable mental changes.

Without an increase in the funding level for NIH, there is little hope that NIH will find ways to protect the mental function of these patients.

Just recently, scientists at NIH made real progress toward a safer smallpox vaccine through clinical trials with multiple experimental vaccines. We must not allow a roadblock to be placed before NIH as it works toward finding a smallpox vaccine with fewer side effects that can be more easily administered.

Due to increases in its budget, NIH was able to build a unique vaccine research center where it integrated both basic research, production of vaccines and identification of the types of viruses. As a result, NIH identified the cause of SARS in record time.

Funding increases between 2001 and 2003 also supported NIH's ability to stimulate research in immunology and understand the immune system. NIH now has 50 vaccines in development and the number of trial vaccines for AIDS has tripled. But inadequate funding will impede the advances NIH has made to date.

Doing so would severely impact the NIH's ability to award new research grants, at the very time when scientists should be taking full advantage of everything they've learned over the past 5 years to translate that research into treatments and cures.

The impact of the bill's dramatic slowing in the growth of the NIH budget will be particularly devastating in areas of clinical research, where the fruits of our investment in medical research are applied to improving the health of the American people.

If passed, the Specter-Harkin-Feinstein amendment would increase NIH funding by 9.2 percent, for a total of $29.48 billion. The amendment is fully offset for FY04. It achieves this by rescinding FY 2004 advance appropriations in the FY03 Labor-HHS appropriations bill and re-appropriating those monies in FY 2003.

"This is the wrong time to put the squeeze on NIH funding," Senator Feinstein said. "By pledging an additional $1.5 billion, Congress will be able to help ensure that the NIH will be better equipped to meet the many medical challenges facing our society. Millions of people depend on the research this amendment would fund. We cannot afford to let them down."

Other Senators co-sponsoring the amendment include Senator Tom Harkin [IA], Senator Susan Collins [ME], Senator Olympia J. Snowe [ME], Senator Byron L. Dorgan [ND], Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton [NY], Senator Joesph I.Lieberman [CT], Senator Barbara A. Mikulski [MD], Senator Frank R. Lautenberg [NJ], Senator Patrick J. Leahy [VT], Senator Patty Murray [WA], Senator Jon Corzine [NJ] Senator Richard J. Durbin [IL], Senator Paul Sarbanes [MD], Senator Charles E. Schumer [NY], Senator Maria Cantwell [WA], Senator Harry M. Reid [NV], Senator Tim Johnson [SD], Senator Edward M. Kennedy [MA], Senator Debbie Stabenow [MI].

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