Special Federal Budget Issue: Department of Health and Human Services

The $642 billion FY 2006 budget for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reflects an increase of $58 billion over FY 2005, most of which occurs in mandatory spending programs such as Medicare. Discretionary portions of the HHS FY06 budget total $67.2 billion, a decrease of 1 percent from FY05.

However, individual discretionary programs such as the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are quite diverse. For example, funding for FDA will increase by $81 million from FY 2005, whereas funding for CDC will decrease by $491 million.

The Administration is proposing to terminate three HHS programs related to community and economic development, including the Community Services Block Grants ($637 million in FY 2005) and Community Services Discretionary Programs ($65 million in FY 2005) such as the Urban and Rural Community Economic Development grants and Rural Community Facilities grants.

In order to attract highly trained scientists to aid in their research objectives, NIH proposes to increase stipend levels and health insurance for certain postdoctoral trainees and fellows. Additionally, individual postdoctoral fellows will receive an increase of $500 in their institutional allowances to cover the rise of health benefit costs. Without an increase in funding, however, NIH will support 17,442 Full-Time Training Positions for $764 million, a decrease of 397 positions from FY 2005.

Funding priorities for NIH in FY 2005 include:

• Biodefense - $1.7 million ($6 million increase). HHS has requested that a total of $97.1 million be provided to support radiological/nuclear research at $47.1 million and chemical threat countermeasures at $50 million. Other priorities include the clinical development of vaccines; clinical development of anti-toxins/antibody treatment for anthrax; and preclinical development of drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics with a focus on therapies.
• The Roadmap for Biomedical Research - $333 million ($98 million increase). The Roadmap has three primary initiatives: New Pathways to Discovery - $169 million, Multidisciplinary Research Teams of the Future - $44 million, and Re-engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise - $120 million.
• The Neuroscience Blueprint - $12 million. The Blueprint is a combined effort of neuroscience Initiatives and centers joined together through initiatives and working groups to focus of specific disorders. Funding for the Blueprint is distributed across three primary initiatives: Neuromouse Project - $2 million, Cross-Institute Neuroscience Training Programs - $2.5 million, and Neuroscience Core Grants - $7.5 million. In addition, the 15 collaborating Institutes and centers will contribute an extra $14 million to this initiative, totaling $26 million in FY06.
• HIV/AIDS Research - $2.9 million ($12 million or 0.4 percent increase)

The FY06 NIH SBIR/STTR budget for research grants is estimated to total $616 million; the total available for contract awards through the NIH SBIR program is estimated to be $22 million.