The United States Senate’s Committee on Appropriations approved a bipartisan bill in early September that provides $36.1 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health for fiscal year 2018, representing a $2 billion increase from 2017. The House of Representatives approved a $1.1 billion increase in NIH funding, with the actual amount expected to be closer to that allocated by the Senate bill. As cuts had been proposed to existing NIH funding, particularly for indirect costs such as the construction and maintenance of laboratories, the supply of utilities and data services, and the management of federal compliance procedures, these bills are a significant assertion of support for the nation’s biomedical research programs. The legislation also includes specific language ensuring that the method of calculating the requisite funding for indirect research costs will not be altered in the future.
