2019

Home ▶ Washington Letter ▶ 2019 ▶ House Committee Approves $2 Billion NIH Funding Increase
House Committee Approves $2 Billion NIH Funding Increase

On May 8, the full House Appropriations subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), approved the fiscal year (FY) 2020 health research and services spending bill, known as the Labor-HHS bill. The bill includes a proposed $2 billion funding increase for the NIH and a $921 million proposed funding increase for the CDC. In another success, the bill includes $10 million in new funding for the CDC’s global tuberculosis (TB) program. Prior to the House bill’s allocation, the CDC’s global TB program was relying on annual funding transferred in from the domestic TB program, an action that was effectively reducing the domestic TB program annual budget by $7 million. 

The House FY2020 bill includes the following proposed funding levels for programs that the ATS monitors:

  • $2 billion funding increase for the NIH, for a proposed FY2020 level of $41.1 billion
  • $921 million funding increase for the CDC, for a proposed FY2020 level of $8.3 billion
  • $10 million funding increase for the CDC’s domestic TB program, for a proposed FY2020 funding level of $152.3 million
  • $10 million in new funding for the CDC’s global TB program
  • $40 million funding increase for the CDC’s tobacco control program, for a proposed level of $250 million
  • $5 million funding increase for the CDC’s asthma program, for a proposed FY2020 funding level of $34 million
  • $10 million funding increase for the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) for a proposed FY2020 level of $346 million
  • $5 million funding increase for the CDC’s Health Impacts of Climate Change program, for a proposed FY2020 level of $15 million.

The next step for the FY2020 health spending bill is a full House floor vote, which could be scheduled for June. However, the bill’s outlook is unclear due to austere overall budget caps, which are still in effect, absent a bipartisan deal to lift them. The House bill also did not secure any bipartisan support from the subcommittee’s Republicans, although several did express support for the proposed NIH funding increase. The Senate subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), is expected to begin moving its bill in June, although if there is still no bipartisan budget deal by then, the Senate bill will provide flat funding at FY2019 levels for most programs.

Last Reviewed: May 2019