The US Senate, in session for one day yesterday (December 9), declined to consider the $328.1 billion omnibus spending measure to fund 11 departments and numerous agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). On Monday (December 8), the House approved the measure 242 to 176. Action on the bill now is delayed until at least January 20, 2004, when Congress reconvenes.

The fiscal year (FY) 2004 consolidated conference bill (HR 2673) would give NIH $27.98 billion, a 3.7% increase of $1 billion over last year's appropriation and $318.6 million more than the White House had requested. NSF would receive $5.6 billion, an increase of $300 million over last year and $130 million more than requested by the White House. These amounts are before an across-the-board 0.59% budget cut is imposed on all programs and projects except defense and military construction funds.

House and Senate conferees earlier had removed a number of politically volatile provisions from the bill, including rules on overtime pay, television station ownership, and gun records. Even though the full House approved the measure Monday with little debate, senators—Democrats and Republicans alike—refused to rush the bill through.

This delay is likely to influence NIH's grant-making process, said David Moore, associate vice president of government relations for the Association of American Medical Colleges. “We are 3 months into the fiscal year, and NIH still doesn't know its funding levels,” he said. “We are getting a sense from our grantees that NIH, operating on a continuing resolution from last year, will probably be conservative during the first round of grants” made in early December, Moore told The Scientist. “I am not optimistic the bill will be resolved even on January 20,” he said.

“We recognize that HR 2673 is not a perfect bill, but even with its limitations is better than no appropriations bill at all,” said Robert D. Wells, president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in letters last week to senators urging passage. Howard Garrison, FASEB public affairs director, noted the objections to the bill in the Senate are numerous and varied. “I don't know if it makes things any easier than having one set of strong objections,” he said. “I just hope they come back and wrap this up.”