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1 (March 26, 1998)

handle is hein.crs/crsuntaafap0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 97-917 STM Updated March 26, 1998 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Disease Funding and NIH Priority Setting Judith A. Johnson Specialist in Life Sciences Science, Technology, and Medicine Division Summary aResearchi at the Nationial 1Ist~ites of Health (NIH) has strongi political su~pport, but heated debate r-ages ov er the allocation- of NUT funi-ds amioii N vaious diseases. NIH conitenids that decisins are miade based on scintific opportunity whbile critics of the NIH process chiarge that sp~ending, ofteni fo~llow\s curr-en-t politics an-d political correctniess. The ongoing effort to balance the federal budget has reduced overall federal research and development (R&D) funding. Between FY1995 and FY1997 total civilian R&D declined 4.1% in real terms.' Although overall federal R&D spending is down over the past several years, one sector of the federal R&D effort has been protected. Biomedical research funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has nearly doubled over the last decade. The NIH budget has stayed about 25% ahead of inflation as measured by the Biomedical Research and Development Price Index, a special inflation index developed for NIH to measure changes in the prices of items and services required for its R&D activities.2 The NIH FY1998 budget of $13.65 billion represents over one third of federal civilian spending for R&D. Clearly, NIH has received strong bipartisan support from Congress. Advocates for expanding biomedical research are none the less concerned that continuing pressure to reduce the deficit will eventually result in NIH receiving only small increases or even the flat or declining budgets experienced by the other federal R&D agencies. While funding for NIH has been relatively generous, about 75% of the research grant proposals submitted to NIH do not receive funding, leaving many scientists to find support elsewhere. This situation has resulted in many young investigators leaving research for other careers. In addition, researchers in academic health centers (AHCs--the complex of a medical school, one or more teaching hospitals and other health professions schools) are concerned over the fiscal side effects of managed care health insurance. Managed care has eroded biomedical research dollars by taking away the patient care income of the 1 CRS Report 97-126, Federal R&D Funding Trends in Five Agencies: NSF, NASA, NIST, DOE (Civilian) and NOAA, coordinated by Michael E. Davey. 2 CRS Report 95-96, The National Institutes of Health: An Overview, by Pamela W. Smith. Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress

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