Increasing the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has never been an easy political task. Yet, now the Obama administrations fiscal 2017 budget proposal is going to make that assignment even harder for the country’s leading funder of biomedical research. Congress need to find and agree to support an extra $1.8 billion to support the institutes endeavors. 1 billion of those dollars is currently part of the existing NIH budget, while the remaining $825 million is an increase—with the bulk of the monies ($625 million) slated for the Vice President’s cancer moonshoot initiative.
Poll Question:
Do you think that using the so-called “mandatory budget funds” to pay for the proposed $825 million increase, as well as $1 billion of the NIH’s existing budget is a good idea?
Yes
52
No
34
What is the NIH?
13
