On Tuesday (Nov. 13) President Bush signed a defense bill (HR 3222) that ups the 2008 Pentagon budget by $40 billion from last year and increases Pentagon-funded basic research programs by about $81.2 million, according to a spokesperson for the bill's sponsor, Representative John Murtha (R-PA).

HR 3222 increases funding for peer-reviewed breast cancer research programs by about $10.5 million over last year to $138 million. It also provides $80 million for peer-reviewed prostate cancer research and $10 million for ovarian cancer research, maintaining last year's funding of these programs.

Bush signed the defense bill the same day that he vetoed the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill that sought to increase the budgets of the departments of Labor and Education as well as that of the NIH.

Last night (Nov. 15) the House of Representatives failed to override the Bush veto, falling just two votes short of the two-thirds vote necessary.

Funding for applied research in the defense bill actually drops by about $186.6 million from last year's defense budget.