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Background and Current Status

23 January 2012

The NIH announced that it will increase training stipends by 2% for FY 2012. Read more here.

19 December 2011

On December 16, the House passed the omnibus bill HR 2055 that included small funding increases for both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE OS) for FY 2012. The Senate passed this bill on December 17.  The bill includes a 0.8% increase, or $240 million, in funding for the NIH over FY 2011. The bill will become law when it is signed by President Obama.

The NPA anticipates that the NIH training stipends will increase by a minimum of 2% for FY 2012.

13 December 2011

Appropriators Hope to Wrap Up FY 2012 Spending Debate with Impending “Megabus”

December 9, 2011—House and Senate leaders Dec. 7 appointed conferees to negotiate a spending package (H.R. 2055) finalizing FY 2012 funding for programs under the nine remaining appropriations bills. In a brief, public meeting of the conference committee Dec. 8, Senate Appropriations Chair Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) indicated that “negotiations continue, and work remains to be done,” but that he expects “to present [a conference report] early next week.”

7 October 2011

NRSA Stipends

The NIH training stipends support more than 17,000 training positions and are used as a benchmark by research institutions across the country for compensation of postdoctoral scholars. In 2001, the NIH pledged to raise the entry-level postdoctoral stipend for the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) to $45,000. Due to a lack of funding, the NIH has been delayed in keeping its pledge. In 2008, the NIH announced that it would hold the NRSA fellowship stipend levels for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 at the FY2007 levels, continuing a stipend freeze from 2006. In 2009 and 2010, the NRSA stipends were increased by 1% each year, and in 2011, by 2 percent (the NPA applauded this increase). The President's Budget for FY 2012 requests a 4-percent increase in the stipends.

NIH Funding for FY2012

President Obama proposed in his Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 budget that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) be funded at $32 billion, an increase of $740 million over 2010, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) be funded at $7.8 billion, an increase of 13 % above 2010. The President's Budget also included "an across-the-board increase of 4% for stipends under the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award training program."

There is a lot of concern in Congress right now about America’s growing federal debt and a movement is underway to significantly constrain federal spending. The NPA believes that it is important for its members and friends to voice their opinion on how further budget cuts in research and development funding would negatively impact discovery and innovation in the United States. Furthermore, the NPA suggests that advocacy against such cuts is crucial in order to realize any increases in the training stipends.

The federal budget for the current year (FY 2011) expired on September 30, 2011. By law, Congress must pass the next year’s budget by October 1st of the current year. However, lawmakers often miss this deadline, requiring Congress to pass a “continuing resolution” (CR), a temporary funding agreement that remains in effect until a regular budget is passed. A CR usually freezes the budget at the previous year’s level for a determined time (typically a month or two). This is what happened in 2010 when it took multiple continuing resolutions and until April 15, 2011 for FY 2011 budget levels to be agreed upon and come into effect. The final 2011 budget cut NIH funding by $300 million and also included a small reduction for NSF.

The FY 2012 budget outlook for federal research agencies is very uncertain. After an extended battle with Congress, in early August President Barack Obama signed comprehensive legislation to address the country’s $14.3 trillion deficit. The Budget Control Act of 2011(BCA), imposes immediate caps on security and non-security discretionary spending, accounting for nearly one trillion in savings over the next decade. The legislation included few details about how the mandated cuts in discretionary spending will be achieved, making it hard to immediately determine how funding for research and science agencies, including NIH and NSF, will be affected in FY 2012 and beyond. However, it is clear that the bill aims to enforce a newfound measure of fiscal discipline regarding federal spending.

Longer-term spending restraint will be determined by a new Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (JCDR) that has been appointed to identify an additional $1.2 - $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction (on top of the spending caps) over the next ten years. These savings are to be achieved through future spending cuts, changes in entitlement programs, reforms of the tax code, or any combination of those things. The JCDR must approve recommendations and write a bill by November 23, 2011 and submit the legislation to Congress, the President and Vice President. Once the JCDR bill comes to the House and Senate floor all lawmakers will have an opportunity to vote “yes” or “no” (and are not allowed to offer amendments) on the entire package of recommendations. This vote must take place by December 23, 2011.

Regarding FY2012, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill that will fund NIH in 2012 at $190 BELOW the FY 2011 level. The House Appropriations Committee then released their version of the NIH funding bill on September 29, 2011 that includes a $1 billion INCREASE for NIH. Neither the Senate or the House bill is likely to go to the floor for a final vote. Rather, the NIH funding situation will eventually get resolved via an expected FY 2012 “omnibus appropriations” bill that will be debated later this fall. That omnibus bill will determine the final 2012 NIH funding level. It will take a concerted advocacy effort from scientists and others in the research community in order for the $1 billion increase for NIH proposed by the House to become a reality.

• 2011 NRSA Stipend Levels
• 2010 NRSA Stipend Levels
• 2009 NRSA Stipend Levels
• NIH-NRSA Stipend Freeze Background

NPA Actions

Past actions included:

• At various times in 2011, the NPA encouraged its members and friends to write to Congress in support of increase funding for federal agencies supporting research in the FY 2012 federal budget.
• NPA Signs-on to letter with other Professional Societies to the Members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (JCDR), October 28, 2011
• NPA Letter to Dr. Collins NIH commending increase by 2% of NRSA stipends for FY2011, May 18, 2011
• At various times from February of 2010 through March of 2011, the NPA asked its members and friends to send letters to Congress in support of increased funding for federal funding agencies, including increasing the NRSA stipends.
• NPA Letter to President Obama, January 25, 2011
• NPA Response to NIGMS Request for Input Regarding Training, April 21, 2010
• NPA Written Testimony to Senate, April 10, 2010
• NPA Written Testimony to House, April 15, 2010
• NPA Statement (Sept. 09) (statement to NIH Director Francis Collins)
• NPA Letter to NIH Regarding the Stipend Freeze
• NPA Congressional Campaign on NIH Stipends

Join Us

If you want to get involved with this issue, we strongly encourage you to join the NPA Advocacy Committee. (NPA membership is required to participate on this committee. Not a member, click here to join.)