2018

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House 2019 Spending Bill Advances with NIH Funding Increase

This week the full House Appropriations Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), passed the fiscal year (FY) 2019 health research and services spending bill. The House FY2019 health spending bill, known as the Labor-HHS bill, includes a $1.250 billion NIH funding increase over current funding for a proposed budget of $38.3 billion for the agency.

The Senate’s FY2019 health spending bill, approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee the last week of June, includes a larger increase of $2 billion for the NIH, for a proposed FY2019 funding level of $39.1 billion. Although the process for finalization of FY2019 spending is unclear in this election year, the House and Senate funding allocations for NIH make it likely that the agency will see a funding increase of between $1.250 and $2 billion for 2019.

Both the Senate and House health spending bills included congressional directives supporting the NHLBI’s implementation of the COPD National Action Plan.

Turning to the CDC, the House spending bill provides a $427 million increase for the CDC overall while the Senate proposes to cut CDC funding by about $159 million. Regarding CDC programs that the ATS monitors:

  • Asthma: Both the House and Senate bills flat-funded the asthma program at current FY2018 funding of $29 million
  • National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health: Both the House and Senate bills flat-funded NIOSH at current FY2018 funding of $335 million
  • Tobacco Control: Both the House and Senate bills flat-funded the program at current FY2018 funding of $210 million
  • Tuberculosis: Both the House and Senate bills flat-funded the program at current FY2018 funding of $142.2 million.
The House Appropriations Committee approved the FY2019 health spending bill after a late night session in which the committee unanimously approved over a dozen amendments relating to the separation of immigrant families including measures requiring physical and mental health examinations of children before administration of any medications and providing funding for mental health services for children separated from their parents.
Last Reviewed: July 17, 2018