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From: "Jeffrey P. Jones"
Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 09:47:26 -0400
To: CHEMISTRY-REQUEST@ccl.net
Subject: (Fwd) NIH Budget
Dear Colleague:
We urgently need your help to keep the U.S. Senate from making deep,
destructive cuts in the National Institutes of Health budget for the next
seven years to the Year 2002. You can help prevent this by asking your two
U. S. Senators to encourage Senator Mark Hatfield (R-OR) to proceed with his
amendment to restore NIH funds to the pending Senate Budget Resolution, and
also asking them to vote for the amendment when it comes to the Senate
floor.
The Senate will begin voting on the FY 96 budget resolution in the next
few days. The resolution is the broad fiscal blueprint that controls
congressional spending and sets overall funding ceilings for the
appropriations process. If the ceilings are set too low, appropriators will
have difficulty providing NIH with the funding level it needs to maintain
research momentum.
Thus, I regret to report the pending Senate budget resolution could
force as much as a $2.5 billion cut in current NIH funding and that level
would be frozen until the Year 2002. If the proposed cuts are permitted to
take place, it would damage NIH research at a time of unprecedented
productivity, drive talented scientists, both young and established, into
other careers, and cause the U.S.to lose its hard-won leadership in such
fields as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
Budget analysts say such a cut could plunge the NIH success rate for
competing proposals to 1% from the current low level of 15-20%. That's
right: 1%.
However, we still have an opportunity to avoid a "devastating blow" to
biomedical research.
Senator Hatfield, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a
long-standing friend of NIH, is working on an amendment to restore NIH
funding. But Senator Hatfield cannot win this fight unless we all help him
and his colleagues. It's absolutely vital that you immediately call, wire,
or fax your state's two U.S. Senators and urge them to encourage Senator
Hatfield to proceed with his amendment and to enlist Sen. Nancy Kassebaum
(R-Kans.) and other Senate supporters of NIH as co-sponsors of the measure.
Also, please ask your Senators to vote for the amendment when it reaches
the Senate floor.
Your message must emphasize the threat the resolution poses to the
public, to science, and to the economy. Make the points that NIH has been
a tremendous investment for the American people. The research supported by
NIH has saved lives, reduced suffering and led to lower medical costs.
Moreover, NIH research contributes significantly to the U.S. economy,
creating highly skilled jobs and maintaining U.S. competitiveness.
I have appended a list of talking points to help you develop a brief
message for your Senators. Also attached are the names and the Washington
phone numbers (and fax numbers, if available) for your state's two
Senators. I hope you also will contact members of the Senate Budget
Committee. Their names and Washington phones numbers are attached. Don't
use the mail or mailgrams. There isn't time.
I haven't forgotten about the House version of the budget resolution.
It also contains bad news for NIH and we presently are working to get it
changed. Right now, however, we have a chance to turn the Senate around on
the NIH budget by winning approval for a Hatfield amendment. You can make
the difference in this fight -- but you must act immediately.
Thank you for your help and best wishes.
(Signed)
Samuel C. Silverstein
President, FASEB
***
TALKING POINTS ON NIH FUNDING - FY 1996
The Benefits of NIH Research
* The biomedical research supported by NIH makes vital contributions to
the nation's health, improving the quality of life, advancing science and
creating jobs and economic growth.
* Because of the discoveries made by biomedical researchers over the
years, we live longer, healthier and more active lives. Today, an
American's life expectancy is 75.5 years, an increase of almost five years
since 1970.
* Advances derived from NIH research save an estimated $69 billion in
medical care costs each year, according to a FASEB survey.
* NIH support for biomedical science conducted at universities and
medical schools in all areas of the U.S. has made the U.S. the world's
leader in such fields as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Sales of
products developed through biotechnology totaled $7.7 billion in 1994. The
industry is projected to grow to a $50 billion enterprise by the turn of the
century.
* Another FASEB survey shows that the estimated dollar value of 10
selected biomedical discoveries adopted by industry for purposes other than
health service is almost $92 billion. These include such commonly used
items as freeze-drying for food preservation and use of fiber optics for
telecommunications.
Destructive Effects of Cutting NIH Funding
* NIH officials say quite correctly Budget Committee proposals to cut the
agency's funding "would be a devastating blow to biomedical research." It
would be the kind of action that would undermine our enormous progress in
preventing, diagnosing and curing disease.
* Even without Budget Committee cuts, NIH is able to support only about
19 percent of new investigator-initiated research grant applications
submitted by extramural scientists. This means that fewer than 1 in 5 new
applications are supported, but that other excellent science is not. We
should ask ourselves: what advances against the killing and crippling
diseases are we willing to forego?
* The Senate Budget Committee proposes to make a bad situation worse by
actions that could force up to $2.5 billion in NIH cuts in one year alone
(fiscal 1995 to fiscal 1996) and then freezing that "adjusted" level until
the Year 2002.
* Authoritative estimates show this could lead to a 1% success rate for
NIH competing grants. That's right: 1%.
* The NIH cut being discussed would be a disaster for the agency and for
biomedical research. It would be enormously harmful to research at a time
of unprecedented opportunity, drive talented scientists, both young and
established, into other careers and cause the U.S. to lose its hard-won
leadership in such fields as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
* Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR) may offer an amendment to restore NIH
funding. It is vital for the Senate to pass such an amendment and then see
that it prevails in its forthcoming budget resolution conference with the
House.
--------------------
Senators from NY
Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato
Rm. 520, Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3202
Phone: (202) 224-6542
FAX: (202) 224-5871
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Rm. 464, Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3201
Phone: (202) 224-4451
FAX:
--------------------
United States Senate Committee on the Budget
Senator Pete V. Domenici, (R-NM)
Chairman
(202) 224-6621 (phone)
(202) 224-7371 (fax)
Senator Charles E. Grassley, (R-IA)
(202) 224-3744 (phone)
(202) 224-6020 (fax)
Senator Don Nickles, (R-OK)
(202) 224-5754 (phone)
(202) 224-6008 (fax)
Senator Phil Gramm, (R-TX)
(202) 224-2934 (phone)
(202) 228-2856 (fax)
Senator Christopher S. Bond, (R-MO)
(202) 224-5721 (phone)
(202) 224-8149 (fax)
Senator Trent Lott, (R-MS)
(202) 224-6253 (phone)
(202) 224-2262 (fax)
Senator Hank Brown, (R-CO)
(202) 224-5941 (phone)
(202) 224-6471 (fax)
Senator Slade Gorton, (R-WA)
(202) 224-3441 (phone)
(202) 224-9393 (fax)
Senator Judd Gregg, (R-NH)
(202) 224-3324 (phone)
(202) 224-4952 (fax)
Senator Olympia J. Snowe, (R-ME)
(202) 224-5344 (phone)
(202) 224-1946 (fax)
Senator Spencer Abraham, (R-MI)
(202) 224-4822 (phone)
(202) 224-8834 (fax)
Senator Bill Frist, (R-TN)
(202) 224-3344 (phone)
(202) 228-1264 (fax)
Senator J. James Exon, (D-NE)
(202) 224-4224 (phone)
(202) 224-5213 (fax)
Senator Ernest F. Hollings, (D-SC)
(202) 224-6121 (phone)
(202) 224-4293 (fax)
Senator J. Bennett Johnston, (D-LA)
(202) 224-5824 (phone)
(202) 224-2952 (fax)
Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, (D-NJ)
(202) 224-4744 (phone)
(202) 224-9707 (fax)
Senator Paul Simon, (D-IL)
(202) 224-2152 (phone)
(202) 224-0868 (fax)
Senator Kent Conrad, (D-ND)
(202) 224-2043 (phone)
(202) 224-7776 (fax)
Senator Christopher J. Dodd, (D-CT)
(202) 224-2823 (phone)
(202) 224-1083 (fax)
Senator Paul S. Sarbanes, (D-MD)
(202) 224-4524 (phone)
(202) 224-1651 (fax)
Senator Barbara Boxer, (D-CA)
(202) 224-3553 (phone)
(202) 226-6701 (fax)
Senator Patty Murray, (D-WA)
(202) 224-2621 (phone)
(202) 224-0238 (fax)
--- End of forwarded mail from FASEB Information Services
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