Bush Releases FY 2005 Budget
February 6, 2004 - President Bush Feb 2 submitted
the details of his FY
2005 budget proposal to Congress. The $2.4 trillion spending
plan calls for calls for $818 billion in discretionary spending
in FY 2005, an increase of $31 billion (3.9 percent). Defense
spending is increased by 7.1 percent and homeland security
grows by 9.7 percent. Other domestic discretionary spending
is slated to increase by 0.5 percent to $386 billion. The
president's budget also proposes new budget enforcement mechanisms,
including statutory controls to limit the growth of both discretionary
and mandatory spending.
Discretionary spending within the Department
of Health and Human Services is decreased by $1.1 billion
(1.6 percent) to $68.2 billion. As in previous budgets, the
Administration proposes increases for a few priority programs,
calls for the elimination of several programs, and freezes
funding for the majority of discretionary health programs.
The following summarizes the budget proposals for programs
of interest to medical schools and teaching hospitals.
National
Institutes of Health (PDF, 12 pages): The
president's budget includes $28.6 billion for NIH,
an increase of $729 million (2.6 percent). This includes $80
million to be appropriated through the VA-HUD appropriations
subcommittee, but does not includes $150 million for Type
I diabetes research appropriated by Public Law 107-360 and
$47 million for research in radiological and nuclear countermeasures
appropriated through the Public Health and Social Services
Emergency Fund. If these latter items are added, the program
level for NIH is $28.8 billion, an increase of $763 million
(2.7 percent) over the comparable total in FY 2004. The Biomedical
Research and Development Price Index (BRDPI) for FY 2005 is
projected at 3.5 percent [see related
article].
The president's budget would fund a total of 39,986 research
project grants (RPGs) in FY 2005, an increase of 558 over
the current year. This includes 10,393 new and competing renewal
RPGs, an increase of 258. NIH estimates this would provide
for a success rate of 27 percent in FY 2005, equal to the
projected FY 2004 success rate. However, the grants numbers
are sustained by smaller than usual increases in the average
cost of the grants. The budget calls for an aggregate 1.3
percent increase in average cost of RPGs. NIH will provide
average cost increases of 1.9 percent for direct recurring
costs in noncompeting continuation awards; competing RPGs
will receive an average cost of 1 percent.
Stipends for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral recipients of
the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards will
remain at FY 2004 levels. A total of $764 million is included
for research training, a $15 million (2 percent) increase.
Once again, the budget proposes to reduce the cap on salaries
on extramural grants from Executive Level I ($174,500 in 2004)
to Executive Level II ($157,000). The budget does not include
funds for extramural research facilities grants through the
National Center for Research Resources, which was funded at
$119 million in FY 2004. HHS notes that $633 million has been
appropriated for non-biodefense extramural construction projects
over the past 10 years. The budget does propose $150 million
to fund the construction of an additional 20 BSL-3 laboratories
for biodefense research in metropolitan areas across the country.
Funding for the NIH Roadmap in FY 2005 is set at $237 million,
an increase of $109 million over the current year.
Health Professions Programs: Similar to last year,
the president's budget proposes $11 million for the Title
VII health professions programs within HRSA, a 96 percent
cut below FY 2004. Of this total, $10 million is for Scholarships
for Disadvantaged Students (79 percent cut) and $1 million
for health workforce information and analysis (39 percent
increase).
The budget provides $147 million for Title VIII nurse training
programs, $5 million more than FY 2004. This includes $42
million for basic nurse education and retention, $10 million
more than FY04; $21 million for diversity, a $5 million increase;
$44 million for advanced nursing, a $15 million cut; $32 million
for loan repayments and scholarships, a $5 million increase;
and $8 million for geriatric education and faculty loan repayment,
about level with last year.
National Health Service Corps: The president's budget
includes $205 million for the NHSC, an increase of $35 million
(20.6 percent).
Other HRSA Programs: The budget includes $303 million
for Children's Hospitals Graduate Medical Education, the same
funding as in FY 2004. The $35 million increase in the $2.08
billion Ryan White AIDS FY 2005 budget is directed for the
AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, bringing it to $784 million.
Rural health programs are cut by $91 million (63 percent)
to $52 million in FY 2005, with the budget document citing
the $9 billion in rural health resources provided in the Medicare
reform bill as balancing this cut. The budget includes $10
million (a $94 million cut) for the Community Access Program
(CAP), a program that seeks to enhance access through collaborative
networks of providers. The traumatic brain injury ($9 million),
poison control ($44 million) and telehealth programs ($4 million)
are slated to receive flat funding in FY 2005.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: The budget
provides level funding for AHRQ at $303.7 million, with all
monies derived from transfers from other agencies. Funding
designated for patient safety research is increased from $80
million to $84 million
Bioterrorism Preparedness: The HRSA Bioterrorism Hospital
Preparedness program receives $476 million in the president's
FY 2005 budget, a $39 million (7.5 percent) cut below FY 2004
funding. The bioterrorism curriculum development grants are
allotted $28 million in the budget, level with current funding.
The budget also includes $1.1 billion for the state preparedness
programs administered by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), the same level as current funding. The president's
new $274 million surveillance initiative - coordinated by
the CDC, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Food
and Drug Administration, and the Department of Agriculture
- is designed to enhance surveillance in human health, hospital
preparedness, state and local preparedness, vaccine research
and procurement, animal health, food and agriculture safety
and environmental monitoring. Provided under the DHS FY 2005
budget is new money for Project Bioshield, the administration's
plan for stockpiling vaccines to counter a biological or chemical
attack. It is proposed to receive $2.5 billion in FY 2005,
three times the $890 million provided by Congress in FY 2004.
VA Research: As in the president's FY 2004 proposal,
the budget request for FY 2005 combines the direct and indirect
costs of the VA research program into one appropriations line
item. For FY 2005, the president's budget request proposes
$770 million, a $50 million decrease (6.1 percent) from the
comparable FY 2004 number. This figure is reportedly evenly
split between the direct and indirect costs, which works out
to a decrease of $20.6 million (5.1 percent) for the direct
costs of research. The budget request also notes that the
VA research program received a rating of "Results Not
Demonstrated" as part of the Program Assessment Rating
Tool (PART) evaluation. The Office of Management and Budget
has directed the VA to develop meaningful and useful performance
measures for the research program.
VA Medical Care: The FY 2005 budget proposal recommends
an appropriation of $27.05 billion for VA medical care, an
increase of $510 million (1.9 percent) over FY 2004. At a
Feb. 4 hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, VA
Secretary Anthony Principi stated that this request was $1.2
billion less than his agency had requested from the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB).
National Science Foundation: The president's FY 2005
budget proposal includes $5.75 billion for the NSF, an increase
of $170 million (3.1 percent). This includes $4.45 billion
for NSF research, an increase of $200 million (4.7 percent).
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Director
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
Jonathan Fishburn, Director, Research, Education and Veterans' Legislative Affairs
AAMC Government Relations
jfishburn@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
Erica Froyd, Director, Public Health and Research Legislative Affairs
AAMC Government Relations
efroyd@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
This page contains documents in Portable Document Format (PDF).
The Adobe Acrobat® Reader® is required to view PDF documents. Download
Acrobat® Reader®.
Get Washington Highlights
in your Inbox!
| 
