July 2017

The House Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Cole (R-OK), met today and approved a fiscal year 2018 spending bill for NIH, CDC and most health research and services programs.

The bill proposes a $1.1 billion or about 3.2 percent funding increase for the NIH over the FY2017 level of $34 billion for total proposed FY2018 funding of $35.1 billion. However, because the bill cuts almost $5 billion out of all health, labor and educations programs, funding reductions at other health agencies, such as CDC, are proposed. The bill proposes a $198 million or about a 2.7 percent reduction to the CDC's budget for FY2018. Details on individual CDC programs such as asthma and domestic tuberculosis control have not been released but will be available next week.

In his remarks at the session, panel Chairman Cole stated that he viewed the bill's NIH allocation as a "floor, not a ceiling, for biomedical research funding," signaling that he may support a higher increase if the Senate subcommittee provides it. The bill is expected to be considered by the full Appropriations Committee on July 19.