[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 1272]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH FUNDING DEFICIT

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                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 27, 2017

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to clarify a statistic I 
inadvertently misstated on the House Floor on January 3rd.
  I intended to highlight how medical research at the National 
Institutes of Health has been cut by $7.5 billion since 2003, when 
adjusted for inflation.
  The cost of conducting medical research increases each year, yet the 
NIH's budget has not kept up with this pace. As a result, the NIH has 
been able to support less research each year.
  Thankfully we started to reverse this trend in 2016, when we provided 
a $2 billion increase however that is not nearly enough to close the 
gap.
  Even with the money provided by 21st Century Cures for the next 
decade, Congress has barely put a dent in the NIH's funding deficit. 
For example, in 2017, with the increase provided in the House Mark and 
the Cures bill, the NIH would still be over $7 billion short of the 
2003 level.
  I would also note that the Cures funding is a gimmick--there is no 
guarantee that Congress will provide that funding each year.
  I regret my error in omitting the term ``when adjusted for 
inflation.'' But it is clear that when you look at the cost of research 
and the money we appropriate for the NIH, we have a long way to go.

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