2008 NIH funding in danger

from a recent email from ASBMB:

Alert: The President has threatened to veto the modest increases in NIH funding proposed by Congress.

What We Need From You: Your calls or e-mails to the White House urging the President not to veto the 2008 Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bill.

Background: The FY2008 Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations bill (which allocates funding for the NIH and other federal agencies) has been approved by both houses of Congress and sent to the President for his signature.

The bill allocates $30 billion for NIH, a 3.1% increase over FY 2007, the first increase since 2003 that keeps the agency's budget even with inflation. The President has threatened to veto the bill because (among other reasons) the total spending in the bill is about $10 billion above his budget request.

It is unclear at this point whether there will be enough votes to override a veto in the House or the Senate. Therefore it is crucial that we do our best to discourage the President from casting a veto in the first place. It is critical that we protect the modest increase for NIH in the L/HHS bill because there could be no NIH increase at all this year if the bill is vetoed.


Action: Please contact the White House and urge the President to support biomedical research and sign the 2008 Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations bill.

Please contact the White House at:

Email: comments@whitehouse.gov

Phone: 202-456-1111

Contact us if you have questions:

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