Legislative Update as of 11/7/07

FY 2008 NIH Appropriations

On Tuesday, November 6, the House passed a combined FY 2008 Labor-Health and Human Services-Education (Labor-H) and Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Appropriations Conference Report by a vote of 269-142. The Labor-H bill contains $30 billion in funding for the NIH.

The President has vowed to veto the Labor-H bill because it exceeds his budget proposal by $10 billion. Last night’s vote is 21 votes short of the 290 votes needed to override a presidential veto (assuming all 435 members of the House vote.)

We expect that the House will have to vote again on the Labor-H conference report before it is sent to the President. The Senate is expected to separate the Labor-H and the Military Construction/Veterans Affairs appropriations bills, thus, requiring individual votes on the two bills.

We will continue to update you throughout the appropriations process. In addition, we will continue to ask you to contact your Member of Congress. Congress needs to know that their constituents feel strongly about the importance of properly funding the NIH.