Statement of Joint Council of Allergy and Immunology Presented before the Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health and the Environment

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to enable the advisory council to "provide the second level of peer
review for awards made directly from the Office of AIDS research
from the discretionary fund."
FTE Proposal
The amended Senate bill reads, in part, "Not withstanding any
other provision of law relating to the number of individuals who
may be employed as full-time equivalent individuals, with respect
to the number of full-time equivalent individuals so employed, the
Director of the Office of AIDS Research shall be permitted to
authorize the employment of such full-time equivalent individuals
to perform AIDS-related research through the institutes, centers
and divisions of the National Institutes of Health...and subject to
appropriation." Does this mean that all employees and allocation
of employees would fall under the management, discretion and
control of the Director, Office of AIDS Research? What is the
perceived effect of another layer of administration in the hiring
and allocation of staff? We believe that consolidating the funding
and decision-making at the Office of AIDS Research will impair the
ability of the ICD's to ensure that new staff are hired and that
intramural research efforts are maintained at their present, highly
productive level.
We believe that there is merit to strengthening the role of
the Office of AIDS Research and increasing its participation in
planning and coordination of NIH-wide AIDS research initiatives.
The Office of AIDS Research should be given the authority in the
planning process for review and approval of AIDS research.
However, the funding and execution of that science and the
integrity of the conduct of that research should remain at the ICD
level, and the funding for that research should be made directly to
the ICD's.
Thank you for the opportunity to present our thoughts and
questions regarding HR 4. We look forward to working with the
Committee to refine the proposal as you approach floor action and
the Conference Committee.