American Heart Association Urges Senate to Vote for Increased NIH Funding In FY 2004

9/8/2003

From: Charles Hodges, 202-785-7900 or Charles.Hodges@heart.org; Eric Bolton, 202-785-7900 or Eric.Bolton@heart.org; both of the American Heart Association

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 -- The American Heart Association today urged the U.S. Senate to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for FY 2004 by voting for an amendment to be offered by Senators Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

"It is essential that the Senate vote yes to the 9.2 percent increase proposed by these three senators for medical research funding and related programs supported by NIH," said Dr. Augustus O. Grant, president of the association. "Now is not the time to slam on the brakes and slow the momentum we have been seeing in a wide variety of exciting new research fields."

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved an NIH budget of $27.9 billion for FY 2004, a mere 3.7 percent increase over this year's funding level. "With the annual inflation rate for medical research ranging around 3.3 percent, the committee's recommended budget for NIH in FY 2004 is essentially flat," Grant said. "It will stall our research progress, and potentially put at risk the ability of the nation to deal with public health crises," he warned.

Grant said that the amendment to be offered by Senators Specter, Harkin and Feinstein is in line with the recommendation put forth by the association, which calls for an appropriation of $30 billion for NIH in FY 2004.

"Passage of the amendment will help advance the fight against our nation's leading killers by helping save and improve the lives of our family members, friends and other loved ones who suffer from heart disease, America's No. 1 killer, stroke, our nation's third leading cause of death, and other chronic diseases," Grant concluded.