FY12 Appropriations bill introduced in the House

Late Wednesday evening, U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) announced the final nine FY12 appropriations bills had been combined into a large omnibus bill and introduced in the House. In addition to the nine appropriations bills, the legislation package includes a bill providing funding for disaster emergencies and a bill containing offsets for the disaster funding.

Of particular interest to the research community, is the FY12 funding level for the National Institutes of Health. The bill provides the NIH with $30.6 billion in funding, $239 million above the FY11 level, but $758 million below the President’s request. The bill also contains the establishment of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and the dissolution of the National Center for Research Resources. The bill includes the following specifics:

• $576 million for the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
• $10 million for the Cures Acceleration Network (No funds were provided for CAN in FY11)
• $487 million for the Clinical and Translational Sciences Awards program
• $1.46 billion for the Office of the Director (FY11 comparable funding was $1.177 billion)
• $125 million for Buildings and Facilities (FY11 comparable funding was $50 million)

A summary of the bill can be found here and the complete text of the legislation that deals with NIH funding can be found here. The ASBMB Office of Public Affairs will continue to analyze the specifics of the bill to identify any policy riders that may affect the research community.

The 2012 fiscal year began on Oct. 1 and the government has been running under continuing resolutions since that time. The current CR expires on Dec. 16, so one final short-term CR may be necessary to give both the House and the Senate more time for a final vote on the bill.

The ASBMB Office of Public Affairs will continue to monitor the appropriations process and keep you updated on its progress.