Christopher Shays: “I align myself with Mr. Barton and Mr. Castle. Mr. Barton described the $700 million that is basically siphoned off the…”

“I align myself with Mr. Barton and Mr. Castle. Mr. Barton described the $700 million that is basically siphoned off the NIH budget. But there is $300 million in addition that goes to the Global Fund. Last time it was $99 million. In this, we are taking another $201 million and siphoning it to the Global Fund. Why not just give it to the Global Fund directly instead of putting it into the NIH budget. I urge support of Mr. Barton's amendment, which will prevent funding from being transferred out of the National Institutes of Health and will effectively increase the NIH research budget nearly $700 million. Each year, 2.4 percent of NIH funding is reallocated for the Evaluation Tap, which provides nearly all the funding for the AHRQ (pronounced ARC), as well as some funding for CDC and SAMHSA. This leads to nearly $700 million being removed from the NIH allocation each year. Coupled with the $300 million being transferred to the Global Fund, the NIH has already lost nearly $1 billion before it spends its first penny. I do not oppose funding these other agencies, but it seems to me if Congress deems this to be a priority, we should fund these agencies with their own line items in the budget, not survive by siphoning off funding from other agencies. I do not believe we should require the NIH to give up part of its budget.”