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President Trump Signs Spending Bill, Boosting NIH Budget

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – President Donald Trump today signed into law a $1.3 trillion government spending package that includes a $3 billion increase in funding to the National Institutes of Health, boosting the agency's fiscal 2018 budget to $37.1 billion.

The omnibus appropriations bill was unveiled by Congressional leaders on Wednesday night and was quickly passed by the House and Senate with bipartisan support. It funds the government through the end of September.

While President Trump had earlier in the day said on Twitter that he was considering vetoing the bill over an immigration issue and a lack of funding for a proposed Mexican border wall, he ultimately signed the legislation.

The bill includes increases for every NIH institute and center, and specifically earmarks $1.8 billion for Alzheimer's disease research, a $414 million increase over FY2017; $400 million for the BRAIN Initiative, a $140 million increase over last year; and $290 million for the All of Us precision medicine initiative, a $60 million boost over the previous year. It also provides $5.1 billion to the US Food and Drug Administration — $483 million more than FY2017 — and includes $996 million in 21st Century Cures Act funding.

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