As Congress works to map their federal spending for Fiscal Year 2015, advocacy organizations and members of Congress alike have been announcing their funding priorities for next year. The Meso Foundation has joined One Voice Against Cancer (OVAC) in asking for $32 billion in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, asking that Congress “end the erosion of cancer research funding.”
We are pleased to see that 186 members of the House, including 23 Republicans, support our funding request in a letter to the chairs and ranking members of both the full House Appropriations Committee and its Labor-HHS subcommittee. The letter, organized by Reps. David McKinley (R-W.Va.), Susan Davis (D-Calif.), Andre Carson (D-Ind.), and Peter King (R-N.Y.), requests that NIH receive “at least $32 billion” in FY 2015, stating:
We feel this amount is the minimum level of funding needed to reflect the rising costs associated with biomedical research. Full funding for NIH is critical if the agency is to continue to serve as the world’s preeminent medical research institution and our best hope for finding cures, improving treatments, and gaining a better understanding of the complex causes of diseases that affect millions of Americans….
The majority of the Senate (57 Senators, including 11 Republicans) signed a similar letter on April 3rd requesting the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Labor-HHS subcommittee “maintain a strong commitment” to funding for NIH. While the letter organized by Bob Casey (D-PA) and Richard Burr (R-NC) does not mention a specific funding level for NIH, it urges appropriators “to consider the tremendous benefits of a sustained investment in the NIH.”
The Meso Foundation thanks these members of Congress for their public support of NIH funding.
