© 2003 by Oxford University Press
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 95, No. 1, 13,
January 1, 2003
© 2003 Oxford University Press
NEWS |
NCI Adopts Interim Funding Policies Until Budget Is Approved
The 107th Congress adjourned in December without passing 11 of the 13 appropriations bills, including the bill that covers Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. At least in the short term, the delay will likely impact some programs at the National Institutes of Health and has forced the National Cancer Institute and other institutes to implement temporary stop-gap measures.Congress passed a continuing resolution to keep the federal government operating at FY2002 spending levels. For NIH in FY2003, the President’s budget request, which Congress was expected to honor, included a 15.7% increase—$3.8 billion over FY2002 spending.
The top two benefactors of that increase are bioterrorism research and cancer research. "[Biodefense] is one program that was slated to markedly increase in 2003," said NIH director Elias Zerhouni, M.D., in testimony before Congress in October. "So a continuing resolution there for any length of time will greatly impair that program."
Nearly half of the increase for FY2003—$1.75 billion—was slated for bioterrorism-related research, almost all of which was to be directed through the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The National Cancer Institute was expected to receive a 12% increase in funding. But without a new budget, the NCI has had to put in place an interim funding policy for research grants. Competing continuations (type 2 grants) up to the 17th percentile will be funded at FY2002 levels, and new grants (type 1 grants) up to the 12th percentile will be funded at an average of 90% of recommended levels. By comparison, in FY2002 the NCI funded grants up to the 22nd percentile. All noncompeting research project grants (type 5) will be funded at committed levels.
According to NCI, a revised funding policy will be established once the full FY2003 appropriation is made. The 108th Congress convenes on January 7, and the current continuing resolution expires on January 11.
"We are optimistic that the final budget that we get will be better than a flat budget," Stephen Hazen, chief of NCI’s Extramural Financial Data Branch, told the National Cancer Advisory Board in December. "But realistically, the 12% increase [for NCI] that was part of the President’s budget request is not certain, so our policies need to address this uncertainty."
More information on NCI’s interim policy is available at http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/funding.htm.
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