President Biden Releases “Skinny” Budget for FY22

Today, President Biden released a top line summary of his budget proposal for fiscal year 2022. While the “skinny” budget does not provide the programmatic detail typically seen with a presidential budget proposal, it does provide some information on budget priorities for the new Administration. In the area of health, there are several budget recommendations of interest to ATS members including:

• CDC – 8.7 billion (+1.7 billion above FY21), including 110 million for CDC Climate Change and Human Health Program $110 million (+$100 million)
• NIH – $51 billion (+$9 billion), with $6.5 billion targeted for a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health within NIH, targeted initially at cancer,  Alzheimer’s and diabetes research
• EPA – 11.2 billion (+$2 billion) with funding to expand EPA staff, address climate change and environmental justice.
• Wildland Fires – 1.7 billion (+$476 million) for Department of Agriculture programs to address climate change and wildland fires risks.
• VA Medical Research -$882 (+$67 million)
  
  

More budget detail is expected from the Administration in the near future. The release of the President’s budget starts the long and likely contentious congressional appropriations process that will likely not be resolved until September at the earliest. The ATS will continue to advocate for research and public health programs that protect respiratory health.