Sen. Murray touts deal to boost medical research funding by $2 billion
By: Carol Garnick
Puget Sound Business Journal
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray says she has nailed down a bipartisan deal to boost funding for the National Institutes of Health next year by $2 billion.
Because Washington state ranks No. 8 in the nation for the amount of NIH funding it receives, a $2 billion increase could mean a significant bump in funding for the state. In 2015, Washington was awarded $885 million in total funding.
"NIH investments are critical to Washington state patients, families and economy," Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement, adding that the U.S. is at a "critical moment for medical innovation."
Top regional research facilities such as the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason depend on funding from the NIH for support to work on medical innovations.
As the top Democrat on both the Senate Labor, Heath, and Human Services Appropriations subcommittee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Murray has been working to secure more investment in medical research.
While the NIH budget has been inching up slightly since the 2013 sequestration, Murray's office says Congress has been cutting the purchasing power of the NIH for more than a decade.
Accounting for biomedical inflation, this year's $32.1 billion for the NIH compares to the equivalent of $36.4 billion back in 2006, according to Murray's office.
Tuesday's bill is a step toward bringing that purchasing power back up. It still has to be considered by the full appropriations committee next week, but the agreement was bipartisan, which gives Murray hope it will pass, already announcing the budget has been secured.
This would bring the budget up to $34.1 billion.
In the HELP committee, Murray introduced a bill in March to create a new funding stream for NIH and the Food & Drug Administration in an another effort to restore medical funding around the country.
Her plan is to create the National Biomedical Research Act that would provide $5 billion per year for select initiatives at the NIH and FDA, bringing the budget back up to where it was in 2006.
This act is part of a larger package of bills to advance medical innovation and helping get safe, effective cures and treatment to patients. Those negotiations are ongoing.
