On Friday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued the report mandated by the Sequestration Transparency Act[i], on the overwhelming effects of a sequester if Congress fails to act and the automatic budget cuts occur on January 2, 2013. The report indicates just what we suspected; the scheduled automatic cuts will devastate federal funding of medical research.
OMB notes the estimates and classifications in the report are preliminary, and “if the sequestration were to occur, the actual results would differ based on changes in law and ongoing legal, budgetary, and technical analysis.”
For the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the report indicates that $30.711 billion would be subject to the 8.2 percent sequester, equal to $2.518 billion, and an additional $150 million in mandatory budget authority would be subject to a 7.6 percent cut, equal to $11 million. The total cut to NIH would equal $2.529 billion.
In discussing the impact of the sequester, OMB notes, “The National Institutes of Health would have to halt or curtail scientific research, including needed research into cancer.” The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation estimates that this would result in two less grants for mesothelioma in FY2013.[ii]
The 394 page report is available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/legislative_reports/stareport.pdf
To contact your Senators and Congressional Representatives and urge them to act and avert sequestration, please visit our action center:
[i] To learn more about the Sequestration Transparency Act [STA, P.L. 112-155] , visit Thomas.gov and search HR 5872.
[ii] This estimate is based on the decline in spending levels from Fiscal Year 2011, when 23 mesothelioma research grants were awarded. www.nih.gov
