AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Abstract

ROCKVILLE, MD. – Last night, Congressional leaders released an omnibus appropriations bill that outlined fiscal 2014 funding levels for the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The FY14 funding level for the NIH is $29.9 billion, which is a $1 billion increase over the FY13 budget post-sequestration. However, this falls about $700 million short of restoring all of the FY13 NIH funds that were cut by sequestration. The FY14 budget for the NSF is $7.2 billion, which is a $300 million increase from the FY13 budget post-sequestration and almost $200 million more than the FY12 enacted NSF appropriation. Jeremy Berg, President of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, said, “The ASBMB understands that budgetary cuts are necessary in times of financial unrest. However, the research enterprise needs predictable funding to sustain the important research that is conducted across the U.S. With Congress passing budget appropriations in advance of the fiscal year, scientists can continue to be a global leader in research innovation.” Benjamin Corb, the Director of Public Affairs at the ASBMB, added “While the spending level for the NIH is lower than hoped, the ASBMB supports the direction of increased funding as proposed by the newest appropriations bill. We must, however, see more funding increases to sustain the biomedical research enterprise and to allow the scientific community to pursue the research that has made the U.S. the leader in groundbreaking discoveries. This deal is a first step, but does not provide the resources to recover from the damage done by sequestration cuts.” The ASBMB urges Congress to continue on this positive trend of determining budget guidelines and increases for science funding. The ASBMB looks forward to working with Congress in the future to ensure robust and reliable budgets for federal research funding agencies.