September 25, 2019
The following statement regarding ongoing negotiations over FY2020 appropriations bills in Congress can be attributed to United for Medical Research President Alex Currie:
“United for Medical Research is very encouraged by the proposed $3 billion funding increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) included in the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee bill and urges committee leaders to push for bipartisan progress in negotiations. A failure to pass a strong NIH budget threatens to undo the invaluable momentum in biomedical research that Congress has wisely established over the past four years.
“We are very grateful to Labor-HHS Subcommittee Chair Roy Blunt (R-MO) for the $3 billion increase for NIH, and for his and Ranking Member Patty Murray’s longtime support of robust funding for the agency. We are also sincerely thankful for the longtime leadership of both Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) in pursuing strong NIH funding.
“In bipartisan fashion, Congress’s recent funding of NIH has made possible life saving and life changing breakthroughs in America’s biomedical research community, and our public health depends on those advancements continuing. UMR urges leaders of both parties in both chambers to make progress on the Labor-HHS spending bill, and not allow several years of critical biomedical research progress to atrophy.”
UMR is a coalition of leading research institutions, patient and health advocates and private industry seeking steady and sustainable increases in funding for the National Institutes of Health in order to save and improve lives, advance innovation and fuel the economy. Learn more at www.unitedformedicalresearch.org.