The sizeable National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget increase for which many in the biomedical community had been hoping is looking unlikely as Congress begins marking up spending bills for fiscal year 2004. House and Senate appropriations panels this week approved relatively small increases to the NIH budget for the next fiscal year, which starts October 1, 2003.

On June 25, the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee allocated $27.98 billion to NIH, a 3.7% increase of $1.0 billion over the fiscal year (FY) 2003 appropriation and $318.6 million more than the White House requested.

The same day, the House Appropriations Committee approved an NIH budget of $27.66 billion, a 2.5% increase of $681 million over FY 2003's enacted budget. The House budget matches the White House's request. The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and other research advocates had recommended a 10% increase to maintain the agency's budget-doubling momentum.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee chairman, earlier complained that the amount his panel had been allocated for all the programs under its purview was far less than adequate. Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee chairman, tried to put the best face forward by noting that NIH's 2.5% budget increase turned out to be more than 7% after one-time FY 2003 costs for biodefense laboratory construction and anthrax vaccine procurement were factored out.

"Chairman Regula and Chairman Specter are in a box. They are trying to do the best they can with quite limited subcommittee allocations," said Pat White, FASEB's legislative affairs director. "We are looking forward to working on a conference strategy with the hope that, perhaps, more money might be available later in the process."

Funding for Project BioShield, the administration's plan to accelerate development and production of new vaccines and countermeasures against bioweapons, is not included in the NIH budget. Authorizing legislation for BioShield is still underway, and any FY 2004 appropriation will be included elsewhere in the Department of Health and Human Services budget.

Last month, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved its version of Project BioShield and set funding at around $5.6 billion over the next 10 years. That House bill (HR 2122) is at odds with the Senate version, which grants the administration's request for "permanent indefinite funding authority" to spur development and to purchase "huge amounts" of vaccines or drugs to treat smallpox, anthrax, Botulinum toxin, Ebola, plague, and other pathogens.

The Senate measure (S 15), passed March 19 by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, would authorize a permanent funding stream of around $6 billion for 10 years.

Project BioShield would give NIH new authority to bypass traditional procedures when awarding urgently needed research and development grants and contracts. It would also give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ability to authorize widespread use of experimental drugs in case of a bioterrorist attack or other emergency.