Bush to Complete 5-Year Doubling of NIH Budget

WASHINGTON—President Bush’s proposed new budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), if enacted by Congress, would complete the 5-year, bipartisan effort to double the agency’s budget over 5 years.

In his request for fiscal year 2003, which begins on Oct. 1, the President asked the House and Senate to boost the NIH budget to $27.335 billion, an increase of 15.7% over funds appropriated for the current fiscal year.

Mr. Bush also asked for a total of $5.5 billion for cancer research at NIH, including $4.725 billion for the National Cancer Institute, an increase for NCI of 12.2% over FY 2002. If Congress accepts the request, the NCI budget will have risen 85.4% during the last 5 years.

An NIH statement said that the increased funding would enable it to "accelerate the pace of cancer research" and support "large-scale studies on critical cancer control, prevention, and screening questions."

The proposed budget also calls for $4 billion for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, an increase of 57.3%, most of which will fund bioterrorism research. It also seeks $2.77 billion government-wide for AIDS research, an increase of $255 million (10%) from the current budget.

The budget includes $4.012 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a decrease of $170 million (4%) from CDC’s current budget.

The President asked Congress to approve $1.727 billion for the Food and Drug Administration, an increase of nearly 8%. The FDA’s proposed budget includes an anticipated $295 million from user fees, including $272 million collected under the Prescription Drugs User Fee Act. This act enables pharmaceutical companies to contribute to the drug review process to speed it up.

The FDA expects to collect another $16.4 million for its activities under the Mammography Quality Standards Act by which it inspects and regulates mammography centers.