Early this morning, the U.S. House of Representatives released the text of the fiscal year (FY) 2016 omnibus appropriations bill, which would fund the federal government through the end of the current fiscal year on September 30, 2016.

The bill includes increases for all of the science agencies of interest to the GSA community:

• National Institutes of Health
  +$2 billion to $32 billion (↑ 6.6%)
  • NCI:  +$284 million to $3.11 billion (↑ 5.8%)
  • NHGRI:  +$21 million to $519 million (↑ 4.2%)
  • NHLBI:  +$128 million to $3.12 billion (↑ 4.3%)
  • NIA:  +$429 million to $1.60 billion (↑ 36.7%)
  • NIAID:  +$207 million to $4.63 billion (↑ 4.7%)
  • NIDDK:  −$75 million to $1.82 billion (↓ 3.9%)
  • NIGMS:  +$143 million to $2.51 billion (↑ 6.0%)
  • NINDS:  +$88 million to $1.70 billion (↑ 5.5%)
  • Office of the Director:  +$107 million to $1.56 billion (↑ 7.3%)

• National Science Foundation
  +$119 million to $7.46 billion (↑ 1.6%)
  • Research & Related Activities
    +$100 million to $6.03 billion (↑ 1.7%)
  • Education & Human Resources
    +$14 million to $880 million (↑ 1.6%)
  • Major Research Equipment & Facilities
    −$0.5 million to $200 million (↓ 0.2%)

• Department of Agriculture
  • Agriculture & Food Research Initiative
    +$25 million to $350 million (↑ 7.7%)
  • Agricultural Research Service
    +$10 million to $1.14 billion (↑ 0.9%)

• Department of Energy Office of Science
  +$279 million to $5.35 billion (↑ 5.5%)
  • Biological & Environmental Research
    +$17 million to $609 million (↑ 2.9%)

In addition to higher funding levels, the omnibus does not include most of the policy riders that caused the most concern among many in the research community.

The House is expected to vote on the omnibus on Thursday, December 17, which will then be taken up by the Senate. President Obama is expected to sign the bill.

FASEB has issued an e-action alert urging individuals to contact their Representative and Senators to ask them to vote yes on the omnibus appropriations bill. We hope you will contact your elected officials TODAY.

Because the current Continuing Resolution expires today, the House and Senate are expected to pass another short-term temporary funding agreement, extending funding through December 22. This would provide time for the omnibus bill to be passed by Congress and signed by the President.

Thank you to FASEB and CLS for their help in compiling information for this post.

Update (December 18): The House approved the omnibus appropriations bill on a vote of 316-113. One hundred fifty Republicans and 166 Democrats supported the bill, while 95 Republicans and 18 Democrats voted no.

Update 2 (December 18): The Senate followed the House in approving the bill with a 65-33 vote. It now goes to President Obama, who is expected the sign the bill in the coming days.

This post may be updated with additional details. Please check back later for any updates.

GSA member Denise Montell (University of California, Santa Barbara) spoke on Capitol Hill this summer, presenting her research on anastasis, the process of by which cells can return from the brink of death:

Montell, a former President of the North American Drosophila Board, spoke as part of the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus (CBRC) 2015 briefing series.

CBRC is a bipartisan, bicameral Caucus that seeks to broaden the support and knowledge of basic and clinical biomedical research issues throughout Congress. Seventy five Members of the House of Representatives and eight Members of the Senate comprise the Caucus membership with Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH), Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) serving as co-chairs (CBRC membership in 114th Congress).

The Caucus holds monthly briefings on Capitol Hill that feature leading researchers explaining their research—and stressing the importance of federal support. CBRC is facilitated by the Coalition for the Life Sciences, of which GSA is a member. The current scientific advisors to the Caucus are former GSA Secretary James Haber and Mary Beckerle.

Related on Genes to Genomes:

• “GSA member Denise Montell gives Capitol Hill briefing,” July 29, 2015.

On the evening of October 28, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.1314, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, the budget deal negotiated by the current Congressional leadership and President Obama. The bill passed the House on a vote of 266-167, with 79 Republicans—including all members of the Republican House leadership—joining all 187 voting Democrats in supporting the deal.

The legislation now moves on to the Senate, which is expected to pass the bill as soon as tomorrow. The White has issued a “Statement of Administration Policy” expressing support for the bill, indicating the President is likely to sign it.

The bill would provide two years of release from sequestration for both defense and non-defense priorities by lifting the spending caps established by the Budget Control Act of 2011. Overall discretionary spending would increase from its current level of $1.017 trillion to $1.067 in fiscal year (FY) 2016 and $1.070 trillion in FY 2017.

It also extends the debt ceiling through March 5, 2017, which would otherwise have been reached the first week of November.

Please note that the budget deal is for federal spending as a whole and does not address funding for individual agencies and programs. Appropriations discussions are ongoing with the hope that Congress will complete allocations for FY 2016 before the current Continuing Resolution expires on December 11.

However, there are reasons for optimism. Several Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have indicated their support for increasing the budgets of NIH and NSF if caps are lifted. Indeed, both the House and Senate proposed an increase in NIH funding ($1 billion in the House, $2 billion in the Senate) earlier this year.

UPDATE: At 3:12 am on Friday, October 30, the Senate passed the bill to send it on to President Obama. The vote was 64-35, with 18 Republicans joining all voting Democrats in support of the bill.

UPDATE: As expected, President Obama signed the legislation on November 2, 2015.

Related on Genes to Genomes:

• “Urging Congress to pass spending bills with increases for research,” October 17, 2015

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) has issued an action alert encouraging members of the research community to contact their Members of Congress to support passage of spending bills that support research. GSA is one of 27 FASEB member societies.

As reported earlier, the federal government is operating under a continuing resolution that extends spending only through December 11, 2015. The research community is pushing for an omnibus funding bill that would last for the rest of fiscal year (FY) 2016 and includes increases for funding agencies.

Congress has shown an interest in enhancing support for research. Back in June, the House Appropriations Committee advanced a spending bill for FY 2016 that would provide $31.2 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $1.1 billion over the FY 2015 enacted budget. A few days later, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill that would provide $32 billion for NIH, an increase of nearly $2 billion. The National Science Foundation (NSF) also received increased support from the House this summer.

But without a budget for the rest of FY 2016, these encouraging signs would be for naught. As such, FASEB encourages those concerned about research to urge their Members of Congress to pass a FY 2016 omnibus funding bill that includes increases for NIH and NSF.

To send a message to your Senators and Representative, all you need to do is provide your email address and ZIP Code and make any edits you wish on the draft text provided.

Although thousands of messages have already been sent, it is important for your elected representatives to hear directly from you. They pay attention to their constituents and how many people care about an issue. A few minutes on your part can make a big difference.

On Wednesday afternoon, just before the end of fiscal year 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a short-term spending bill on a vote of 277-151. Earlier in the day, the Senate passed the bill on a 78-20 vote. Without this agreement, the U.S. government would have shut-down as the new fiscal year begins on October 1.

Ninety-one Republicans joined with 186 Democrats to pass the House bill; 151 Republicans opposed the funding extension.

The continuing resolution (CR) doesn’t put an end to the concerns, however, as it only extends funding through December 11.

Long-time GSA member and former Drosophila Board President Denise Montell gave a briefing on Capitol Hill to discuss her research on “Life, Death, and Resurrection at the Cellular Level.” This July 29 event was sponsored by the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus and organized by the Coalition for the Life Sciences.

Denise Montell of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Image by Spencer Bruttig via UC Santa Barbara.

“Life, Death, and Resurrection at the Cellular Level”

Dr. Denise Montell
University of California, Santa Barbara

Wednesday, July 29, 2015
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Room 2168, Rayburn House Office Building

Scientific dogma for decades has dictated that once a cell dies it cannot be resurrected. Join Dr. Montell as she discusses her groundbreaking discovery that overturns this widely held belief. What she and her team found was that a variety of normal and cancer cell types can reverse the process of cell death to survive and proliferate. She and her team took cells to the very brink of death and by eliminating the toxin responsible for killing the cell found that the cell rebounds into a normal, healthy, functioning cell. Harnessing this process holds promise in establishing revolutionary therapies for the treatment of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and degenerative diseases.

Join the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus as Dr. Montell discusses her incredible breakthrough. Boxed lunches will be available for attendees. This is a widely attended event.