FY2021 Appropriations Process Heats Up
The Senate has begun to 'mark up' - review and amend - appropriations bills, and Hill watchers expect that all 12 House spending bills will be marked up during the first two weeks of July.
This is a critical time for childhood cancer advocates to reach out to lawmakers on Capitol Hill to emphasize the importance of strong funding for the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and childhood cancer research. A robust commitment to medical research is critical right now, as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens sustained cancer research progress.
Use our action alert to tell Congress that children with cancer are counting on them now more than ever: Take action.
July Update:
The Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee approved its appropriations bill on July 7th and sent it along to the full House Appropriations Committee.
The bill provides $47 billion for NIH, an increase of $5.5 billion above the FY2020 enacted level. It includes $5 billion in emergency funding to improve capacity at research institutions. It also provides continued investment in initiatives like the Cancer Moonshot, the All of Us Precision Medicine Initiative, Clinical and Translational Science Awards, and more.
On July 13th, we learned that the House Appropriations Committee agreed to fully fund the Childhood Cancer STAR Act and the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI) for this fiscal year.
The Committee included a request for an update from NCI in FY2022 focusing on how CCDI efforts will address the need to more accurately capture childhood cancer mortality beyond the current five-year survival metric, which fails to fully capture the long-term morbidity and mortality of these diseases. To this end, “the Committee directs NCI to establish a task force composed of childhood cancer researchers and advocates to determine the most appropriate survivorship metric for childhood cancer.”
There is still a long way to go in the appropriations process but this is an encouraging start.
In other appropriations news:
$30 Million Requested for Childhood and AYA Cancer Research through DoD CDMRP
Join the childhood cancer community in asking Congress for a $30 million line item in the Department of Defense's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP), to specifically fund peer-reviewed childhood, adolescent, and young adult research.
Over 85% of the active military are young adults and many have children. Cancer is the leading disease killer of children, adolescents, and young adults, yet these youth populations lack a dedicated DoD research program.
Please join us in taking action to ensure that the DoD CDMRP is equipped with the resources to take full advantage of its unique position to make groundbreaking research discoveries that benefit children with cancer, adolescents, and young adults: Take action.
About the Congressional Appropriations Process
Congress is tasked with passing 12 bills funding the government by the start of the 2021 fiscal year on October 1. The House and Senate each have their own appropriations committees - and sub-committees - which hold hearings and markups and must eventually send budget bills to the floor for a vote. Differences between the two chambers’ budgets are then worked out in a conference committee.
Congress typically fails to meet the October 1 deadline and instead passes a series of stopgap measures called Continuing Resolutions (CR), which fund the government at current levels. If neither a budget nor a CR can be agreed upon, the government shuts down.