“Thank you very much Mr. Chairman and good morning to everyone. It is a little earlier than we usually start these hearings, but this is such an important topic that it was important to all of us to have the opportunity for the full two hours with the distinguished panel. I am so thrilled to welcome Dr. Francis Collins, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Drs. Fauci, Volkow, Insel, Lorsch, and Gibbons, to discuss the 2016 budget request for NIH.
“First and foremost, let me just say thank you for your work. Every scientific discovery, every medical breakthrough, the research you support advances human knowledge, and it improves the quality of our lives, and most of all it saves lives. And as an almost 30-year survivor of ovarian cancer, I am alive today because to the Grace of God and biomedical research. When I was elected to Congress, I made supporting that research one of my top priorities.
“As well as improving health, research also drives our economy, as the Chairman said. Every dollar invested in NIH repays more than double that in local economic growth. NIH is the cornerstone of our life sciences industry, which employs more than seven million Americans and adds almost $70 billion to our GDP. So there is no reason not to fund NIH as fully as possible.
“In January of this year, along with the Chairman, I had the pleasure of touring NIH along with other members of this subcommittee. It was, as always, a fascinating visit. While there, we met with a senior investigator, Dr. Nancy Sullivan, who is largely responsible for one of the Ebola vaccine candidates that are currently being tested in a clinical trial. That clinical trial is only possible because, thanks to NIH support, Dr. Sullivan and her colleagues have been able to pursue a vaccine over many, many years - since 1997, in fact. Research can take a long time to bear fruit and if we do not invest now, we will not be able to benefit from scientific discoveries five, 10, even 20 years from now.
“So it is deeply troubling to note that, since fiscal year 2010, after adjusting for inflation, NIH has seen its budget erode by about $3.6 billion. That is an 11 percent cut. Sequestration is terrible policy for any budget. It is especially cruel where there are literally lives at stake. In 2013 alone, sequestration took more than $1.5 billion from the NIH. Even after modest increases over the past two years, we still have not returned NIH’s budget to its pre-sequestration level. A decade ago, NIH was able to fund almost one out of every three applications for research grants. Amid sequestration, that success rate has fallen to one in six. In 2015, NIH will fund almost 1,000 fewer research projects than it did in 2010. We will never know how many scientific discoveries and medical breakthroughs the world may have missed out on because of these budget restraints. That is the disturbing context in which we consider the NIH budget request for fiscal year 2016.
“Overall, this request starts to set us back on the right track. There are some exciting initiatives in this budget. The Precision Medicine Initiative will help doctors provide treatments finely tailored to the individual characteristic of each patient. The Combatting Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Initiative, CARB, focuses on defending against deadly superbugs. The BRAIN Initiative holds potential to revolutionize neuroscience, and to make advances to treat Alzheimer’s, autism, and many other brain disorders.The budget includes funding for research to develop a universal flu vaccine, and, potentially, a cure for HIV/AIDS. It also supports basic science research that has long-term benefits across multiple fields.
“As I said, I believe this is the right track. But given the severe neglect of NIH over the past few years, I am disappointed that we are not restoring funding more quickly. This request restores less than one third of the cuts since fiscal year 2010. I introduced a bill in the last Congress, and again in this Congress, that would enable our committee to increase NIH funding by 10 percent this year, and 50 percent over five years, by providing a cap adjustment. That would ensure proper funding for research, without robbing other vital programs to do so. We have invested strongly in NIH before. In the 1990s, I was among a bipartisan group of Members of both chambers on this Committee who fought to double NIH’s budget over five years. To this day, it stands among my most proud achievements. Instead of starving the NIH of funds, we should be seeking to repeat that achievement and double its budget again.
“But this investment cannot happen unless and until we undo that failed policy of sequestration and summon the courage to ask those who can, the wealthiest, who have done so well in recent years, to contribute more to support our national priorities. Biomedical research gives us the gift of life - it has done so for me and countless others. That is what the NIH represents. We can, and we must, find the resources to support it. And I thank you; I thank you, Mr. Chairman."
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
