Federal Appropriations for the NIH and NCI

The current NIH budget is $30.6 billion for FY 2012, having peaked in FY 2010. The President's Budget Proposal and a House-passed measure would provide flat funding for FY2013, whereas the current Senate proposal would provide a $100 million increase. It is likely that Congress will pass a temporary Continuing Resolution to hold the budget at the current FY2012 levels. If sequestration is not averted by Congressional action, the NIH will suffer a drastic cut, reducing its budget to $28.2 billion, reverting back to levels seen in 2004.

 

On February 13, President Obama released a fiscal year 2013 budget proposal that would freeze funding for NIH at its current FY2012 level of $30.7 billion. This is the first time the Obama administration’s budget proposal has not included an increase in funds for the agency. If the proposal were enacted, it would be the 10th year in a row that NIH budget has not kept pace with biomedical research inflation. As a result, in inflation-adjusted dollars, the budget would be nearly 20 percent below where it was a decade ago.

On June 18, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a modest $100 million raise for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the 2013 fiscal year which begins on 1 October. The 0.3% bump to a total of $30.723 billion is slightly better than the president's request

On July 18, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-Health and Human Services-Education (L-HHS-Ed) approved a bill that would freeze funding for the NIH at its fiscal year 2012 level. The House Subcommittees recommended funding level of $30.6 billion is consistent with the President's FY 2013 request and is $100 million below the funding level approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee.