Recently, the House of Representatives failed to override a veto of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations (Labor-HHS) bill. This bill contained $30 billion in funding for National Institutes of Health (NIH), the single-largest source of Parkinson’s-related research in the world.
PAN advocates strongly supported the 3.1% increase for NIH and helped to secure a vote of 277-141, which was only two votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto.
Although NIH’s 3.1% funding increase was the Parkinson’s community’s primary “ask” in this bill, the central issue in the veto override debate was not NIH funding. Instead, the House debate centered on the overall funding contained in the Labor-HHS bill as well as the 10 other FY 2008 federal funding bills that have not yet been enacted.
President Bush has threatened to veto any funding bill that exceeds the amount he requested. The $150.7 billion Labor-HHS bill provided $9.6 billion more than the President’s request.
Currently, Congressional leaders are determining their strategy for passing and enacting the 11 remaining FY 2008 federal spending bills. (Although FY 2008 started October 1st, only the Defense spending bill has been signed into law.) There is much work to be done in Washington before these funding bills are finalized, passed, and signed by the President. As the negotiations continue, we will continue working with Members of Congress to maintain the much-needed 3.1% increase for NIH in any final appropriations bill package.
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