February 9, 2016
United for Medical Research released the following statement:
“While we appreciate that President Obama’s overall goal is to increase funding for biomedical research, we are disappointed his proposed budget would actually decrease the baseline funding level for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in FY2017. It is essential that funding for the NIH be put on a consistent upward path. Such a trajectory is necessary to make up for more than a decade of flat funding and to continue the important progress gained with last year’s $2 billion boost for the NIH.
We commend the president’s inclusion of funding to support cancer-related research activities for the recently launched moonshot initiative, however, UMR believes that both strong annual appropriations plus the use of mandatory funding are needed to put the NIH back on a sustainable growth path.
Research funded by the NIH saves lives, improves the health of all Americans, and supports nearly $60 billion in economy activity. This is why, after more than a decade of stagnant funding, there is a growing bipartisan consensus that investing in NIH is good for America.
United for Medical Research looks forward to working with Congress to ensure that progress continues to be made and that the NIH budget catches up from a decade of underfunding and keeps up with public health needs and the opportunities of biomedical research.”
United for Medical Research is a coalition of leading research institutions, patient and health advocates, and private industry that have joined together to seek steady increases in funding for the National Institutes of Health. Learn more at www.unitedformedicalresearch.com.