2019

Home ▶ Washington Letter ▶ 2019 ▶ Congress Approves FY2020 Spending Deal Providing $2.6 Billion NIH Funding Increase
Congress Approves FY2020 Spending Deal Providing $2.6 Billion NIH Funding Increase

This week, the House of Representatives, followed by the Senate, approved a fiscal year (FY) 2020 spending package “mini-omnibus” that provides a $2.6 million funding increase for the NIH through the health spending bill. The bill was passed just ahead of a Dec. 20, 2019 deadline to avert a government shutdown.

Specifically, the health spending bill provides the NIH a $2.6 billion or 6.6 percent funding increase over FY2019 for a total funding level of $41.7 billion for FY2020. The bill includes the following for specific NIH institutes that the ATS monitors:

  • $3.624 billion for the NHLBI, a $135.9 million increase over the FY2019 level
  • $5.885 billion for the NIAID, a $362.1 million increase over the FY2019 level
  • $6.245 billion for NCI, a $501.5 million increase over the FY2019 level
  • $824 million for the NIEHS, a $27.8 million increase over the FY2019 level
  • $1.706 billion for the NIGMS, a $19.5 million reduction over the FY2019 level
  • $169.1 million for the NINR, a $6.1 million increase over the FY2019 level

For the CDC, the final health spending provides a $636.8 million funding increase over FY2019 levels, for a total funding level of $7.919 billion, a positive advancement from the earlier Senate health spending bill which had flat-funded the agency. In another positive development, the bill provides specific line-item funding of $7.2 million for CDC’s global TB program for the first time, thus, although the funding level is flat with FY2019, the program will no longer have to rely on a transfer funding from the domestic TB division. This will solidify its position in the Center for Global Health. The bill also provides for the CDC:

  • Flat funding of $135 million for the domestic TB program
  • $30 million for the asthma program, a $1 million increase over the FY2019 level
  • $230 million, an increase of $20 million over the FY2019 level, for the Office on Smoking and Health
  • $342.8 million for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) an increase of $6.5 million over the FY2019 level

The bill also provides renewals and funding extensions for the following health programs:

  • A five-year renewal of community health centers
  • A five-year renewal of the National Health Service Corps
  • A 10-year renewal for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) until 2020

The package approved by the House includes the spending bills for the EPA, FDA, VA and the Department of State, Foreign Operations, including:

  • $9 billion for the EPA, a $998.9 million increase over the FY2019 level of $8 billion
  • $800 million for the VA Research program, an increase of $21 million over the FY2019 level
  • $8 million funding increase for the USAID’s global TB program, for a funding level of $310 million
Last Reviewed: December 2019