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FY12 Spending Debate Comes to a Close

Congress completed, and the President signed into law, the FY12 appropriations bill. The $915 billion spending bill wraps up the remaining nine appropriations measures. The bill provides funding for programs at the Department of Health and Human Services, including the National
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Rep. Rush Holt’s (D-NJ) Editorial in Most Recent Science

Science 16 September 2011:
Vol. 333 no. 6049 p. 1549
DOI: 10.1126/science.1211494
EDITORIAL:

Dueling Visions for Science

Rush Holt
Rush Holt is the U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 12th Congressional District and has a doctoral degree in physics.

Thank you!
Update: Specter-Harkin Senate Amendment

I want to thank everyone who responded to the CLC Action Alert and called his or her Senator, encouraging a vote in support of the Specter-Harkin Amendment.

I am pleased to announce that the Senate has passed the Specter-Harkin amendment by a vote of 73 to 27. As you may recall, Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) offered an amendment on the Senate floor to increase funding by $7 billion for the sections of the budget that provide funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Please do not hesitate to thank your Senator(s) if they voted for this amendment. We need to remind our policy leaders continually that constituents in their district care about biomedical research funding.

As NIH advocates, we still have many challenges ahead of us this budget season. In fact, simply because this amendment has passed, there is no guarantee the NIH will receive additional money. The House has to agree to the amendment (and Representatives haven't in the past), and then it has to be reflected in House and Senate Appropriations Committees' allocation for the Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee. The battle continues!

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact your Senators. I hope you will continue to help advance biomedical research on Capitol Hill.

Lynn Marquis vNational Coordinator
Joint Steering Committee for Public Policy

The following is a list of Senators who voted in favor of the Specter-Harkin Amendment:

Akaka (D-HI)
Alexander (R-TN)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Burns (R-MT)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Chafee (R-RI)
Clinton (D-NY)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dayton (D-MN)
DeWine (R-OH)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)

Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Frist (R-TN)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)

Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Santorum (R-PA)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Stevens (R-AK)
Talent (R-MO)
Thune (R-SD)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Wyden (D-OR)

The following is a list of Senators who voted against the Specter-Harkin Amendment:

Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cornyn (R-TX)

Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)

Kyl (R-AZ)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thomas (R-WY)
Vitter (R-LA)