Senate committee wants pre-sequester funding for NIH

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee passed a budget bill that would allocate $30.96 billion to NIH for FY14. The bill would bump NIH's funding from its $29.2 billion operating level in FY13 after accounting for the 5% sequestration cuts. The bump in NIH funding would be about $307 million more than NIH's FY13 funding prior to sequestration. The bill will now go to the full Senate, though a vote on the bill has not yet been scheduled.

The House Appropriations Committee has not yet marked up a FY14 budget bill covering NIH, but the House allocated about 26% less in funding for FY14 than the Senate for labor, HHS and education. According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, assuming across-the-board cuts of 26% would translate to about an $8 billion difference between the House and Senate on NIH's FY14 budget. The final FY14 figures will be hammered out in negotiations between the Senate and House. FY14 starts Oct. 1. ...