The federal appropriations season – when members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate develop and vote on spending bills to fund all federal programs – is upon Washington, D.C.
House and Senate Appropriations Committees have begun to consider spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2017. In the Senate, there is a fever pitch to quickly address the bills. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has suggested devoting the next 12 weeks to the spending measures. The chief House appropriator Hal Rogers (R-KY) is targeting completed committee action in June. However, the election-shortened congressional calendar provides little leeway to accommodate the spending bills and action on other measures. Congress is scheduled to leave town by mid-July and not return until early September, with just four weeks to go until current government funding lapses October 1.
Additionally, quick initial action on spending measures — beginning in the Senate in late April — prior to an intra-party GOP agreement on budgetary spending levels, shifts contentious decisions to later in the year, closer to Election Day. This means that final funding bills, particularly the measure that funds NIH, may be held up until after the elections. It is possible that we reach October 1 without a funding bill in place, which would necessitate at least a short-term stopgap funding bill to avoid a federal government shutdown.
The Endocrine Society is highly involved in the appropriations process because this is how many key programs for our members get funding. Funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is always a top priority and the Society is a leading advocate, explaining to Congress the value of NIH research, accomplishments in endocrine research, and potential endocrine research opportunities.
As Congress begins its annual funding process, there are some worrisome signs for how NIH funding may fare this year. Last year, with tremendous advocacy by the Endocrine Society and others in the research community, NIH received a $2-billion increase. This year, the Senate has already indicated that the committee that develops spending for health and education programs, including NIH, will receive $200 less than last year. In the House of Representatives, several fiscally conservative members are also calling for trimming the budget. As a result, it will be critical that Endocrine Society members interested in NIH urge Congress to support it. We encourage you to join on our online campaign to send an email to your representative and senators. Our advocacy software will generate a letter for you; all you need to do is provide your zip code. This will not take much time, but will have significant impact.
In addition to our grassroots advocacy campaign, the Society has submitted testimony to the Appropriations Committees in the House and Senate advocating for $35 billion for the NIH. (A copy of the testimony is available on the Society website under the advocacy button.) Society members also are participating in a Hill Day at the end of April where they will share how they use NIH funding.
Society Presence at Congressional Hearings
Recently, the Society also helped prompt questions at House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearings to discuss the NIH fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget request to highlight exciting endocrine research. The Director of the NIH, Francis Collins, MD, was joined by the directors of several component institutes and centers to answer questions from members of Congress about NIH priorities and research advances.
The chairs of the LHHS subcommittees for the House (Tom Cole, R-OK) and Senate (Roy Blunt R-MO) each expressed pride in being able to increase NIH funding in FY 2016. They reinforced the need to ensure that the basic biomedical research base is sustained in future years through the appropriations process and remarked on the importance of supporting the next generation of researchers towards finding future cures. However, legislators in both hearings expressed disappointment that the president’s budget proposed a cut to the NIH appropriation of $1 billion in FY 2017. There was strong bipartisan support to ensure that the proposed cut would not be realized.
Collins delivered prepared testimony during the hearings where he discussed 10 areas where he anticipates major progress in the next 10 years if the NIH receives adequate funding. One of his key predictions was the “introduction of a safe and effective artificial pancreas” for patients with diabetes, a top priority of the Society. He also mentioned that he sees significant promise for research on diabetes, generally. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) was particularly enthusiastic about the potential to improve care for patients with diabetes and asked Collins how he could accelerate the timeframe for progress in this area. Collins maintained that the NIH needs steady and sustainable funding trajectories to support research. Specifically, he suggested that yearly increases of 5% would be a sustainable trajectory for NIH.
During the Senate hearing specifically, representatives also discussed two additional Endocrine Society priorities: The importance of funding the next generation of biomedical researchers, and the need to support basic research. Collins described methods that the Institute uses to support early career investigators by giving them preferential treatment during grant review. Several of the NIH representatives, including Collins, spoke in support of basic research as fundamentally important for downstream advances that result in new cures and therapies. Walter Koroshetz, MD, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, stressed that the unpredictable nature of basic research was necessary to explore new opportunities and frontiers. Blunt agreed, stating that you “can’t prescribe results.”
During the House hearing, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) brought up the new NIH policy to require applicants to report plans to include males and females in preclinical research studies and stressed that this was an important issue for her and Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY). Collins confirmed that the focus on male animals and cells in research has resulted in researchers missing important sex differences that might be critical for human treatments and cures and discussed the implementation of the new NIH policy.
Keeping Research Momentum
Lawmakers also debated the prospect of replacing appropriated funds with mandatory funds, as proposed in the president’s budget. Collins shared his concern about the prospect of a cut to the NIH appropriation, suggesting that a $1-billion cut would result in substantial reductions to new and competing grants, damaging the momentum gained from the increase to the NIH budget in FY 2016. He indicated that mandatory funds might be used for certain projects with discrete time frames; however, mandatory funds would not be an adequate replacement for discretionary funds typically to support NIH.
The Endocrine Society is encouraged that the director’s comments reflected the advocacy priorities of Society members and that senators asked questions recommended by the Society. We have long supported the adoption of artificial pancreas technology through our advocacy program, and we are glad that Collins recognizes the potential of this groundbreaking technology on the lives of patients.
Furthermore, the Society has been a leader in advocating for balancing the study of males and females in all phases of biomedical research. We also have advocated for steady increases in funding that would allow the NIH grant success rate to return to a more sustainable level. The Society’s impact in these areas is a direct result of the advocacy of our members through our e-mail campaigns, Capitol Hill days, and letters to legislators. Visit the Endocrine Society’s advocacy webpage to learn how you can participate.
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