Government
House adopts HHS budget bill
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 3, 2009
The House on July 24 voted 264-153 to approve a fiscal 2010 spending bill for the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
Twenty Republicans supported the bill and five Democrats voted against it. By voice vote, members approved an amendment by Rep. Darrell Issa (R, Calif.) that eliminates funding for three National Institutes of Health-funded studies on substance abuse and HIV risk-reduction counseling in Thailand, Russia and China.
"Though I support worldwide elimination of HIV, we don't need $5 million in U.S. tax dollars flowing to study the behavior of Thai and Chinese sex workers," Issa said.
Mark O. Lively, PhD, president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, said Congress should not micromanage NIH. "NIH's peer review system is the envy of the world, because it ensures only the highest quality science is supported through federal funding."
Lively said FASEB will lobby to have the provision removed during House-Senate negotiations on the bill. The Senate has not adopted its HHS spending measure. The federation is pleased that the House bill would increase NIH's budget by 3% to reach $31.3 billion.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/08/03/gvbf0803.htm.
