The National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2011 budget will be cut by $260
million in the deal struck by Republicans and Democrats lawmakers on Friday
night to avoid a government shutdown.
The NIH's 2011 budget will be $30.7 billion, down 0.8% from its 2010 budget
of $30.9 billion, according to new details released this week. The budget is
a compromise between US President Barack Obama's $32.1 billion budget
request and a previous House of Representatives version of the bill that
allocated $29.4 billion to the agency.
On Friday night, President Obama announced the 2011 budget agreement. Source
Other science agencies, however, did not fair as well as the NIH in the
negotiations. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2011 budget will be
cut by $1.6 billion, a 16% cut from its 2010 budget, and the Centers for
Disease Control will be cut by $730 million.
Once the 2011 budget is passed and signed into law by the President,
Congress will begin debating the 2012 budget. In February, President Obama
asked for a $1 billion increase for the NIH in his 2012 budget request to
Congress.
The House of Representative and the Senate are scheduled to vote on the 2011
funding bill on Thursday.