House Passes NIH Reauthorization Bill 283 to 131; Amendment to Freeze NIH Budget Fails by 41 Votes

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Life Science
March 12, 1993
HOUSE PASSES NIH REAUTHORIZATION BILL 283 TO 131;
AMENDMENT TO FREEZE NIH BU)DGECT FAILS BY 41 VOTES
HR4, "The National Institutes of Health (NI I) Revitalization Act," passed
the House yesterday by a vote of 283 to 131. An amendment to freeze NIH
funding at the FY 93 level was defeated by 41. votes on a recorded v ote of
234 opposed to 193 for freezing NIH at the '9 E.vel.
The freeze amendment was offered by Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-NE. Freezing the
NIH budget at the FY 93 level would save about $1.7 billion compared to
the the funds required for HR4 in FY 94, according to an analysis done for
him by the Congressional Budget Office CBO), said Bereuter.
An amendment aimed at modifying the section in the bill on fetal tissue
transplantation research lost on a vote of 253 to 173. The amendment,
which would have placed additional restrictions on that research, wa
sponsored by Rep. Thomas Bli]ley, R-VA and ranking minority member on th
House Health and the E;nvironment Subcommittee, under whose jurisdiction
HR4 was introduced.
Opposition to the Bliley amendment on fetal tissue transplantation
research was led by subcommittee chair Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA.
Among Republicans who supported and spoke in favor of the NIH b 11 as it
was brought to the floor were Constance MoreLla, R-MD, whose distr ict
contains the NIH campus, and Ered Upton of Michigan.
Rep. William Emerson, R-MO, opposed the bili as it is written because of
its "micromanagement" of NiH pr:grams and because of the changes in the
mechanism for distiribtit i g funds for AIDS researc. Under the bill, funds
for AIDS research would not be given directly to the NIH institutes,
centers and divisions, but to the NIH director ad then redistributed in
accordance with an AIDS strategic plan developed by the Office of AIDS
Research. (see Washinqton Fax 3/4/93)
A former NIH researcher, now a Republican Representative from Maryland,
Roscoe Bartlett, spoke in opposition to H~R4, citing parts of the bill that
attempt to direct basic research. "The terms 'directed basic research' are
mutually exclusive," said Bartlett, "you cannot have basic research that
is directed."
CAPPING OR REDUCING INDIRECT COSTS COLD HURT BiOMEDICAL RSEARCH,
SAY FOUR SOCIETIES WHO OFFER THEIR HELP IN MAFING CUTS
Any drastic reductions to funding of biomedical research either through
the indirect cost recovery rate or more directly through funding for the

National Institutes of Health (NIH) would seriously and immediately damage
the progress of biomedical science in this country and the world, say four
scientific societies in a letter to the House and Senate Budget
Committees.