NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The US House of Representatives on Friday passed a 2010 budget for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education that would increase funding for the National Institutes of Health by nearly $1 billion over its appropriation for 2009.
The bill, which passed the house by a vote of 264 to 153, seeks an NIH appropriation for 2010 of $30.97 billion, which is an increase of $940 million over the 2009 level, excluding funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That increase also would boost NIH funding by $500 million over the $30.5 million asked for by President Barack Obama in his budget request.
The bill also seeks $6.8 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an increase of $67 million over the 2009 appropriation and $38.4 million over the White House's 2010 request.
The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, which supports increased funding for biomedical research, said passage of the bill makes it more likely that the House will pass all of the fiscal appropriations for fiscal year 2010 before Congress breaks for its late summer recess, which runs from Aug. 4, through the Labor Day weekend.