I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 531 

To prioritize funding for the National Institutes of Health to discover treatments and cures, to maintain global leadership in medical innovation, 

and to restore the purchasing power the NIH had after the historic 

doubling campaign that ended in fiscal year 2003. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 26, 2015 

Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. HIGGINS, and Mr. KING of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 

Budget 

A BILL 

To prioritize funding for the National Institutes of Health 

to discover treatments and cures, to maintain global leadership in medical innovation, and to restore the purchasing power the NIH had after the historic doubling 

campaign that ended in fiscal year 2003. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accelerating Bio5 medical Research Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 531 IH

1 (1) The National Institutes of Health (referred 

2 to in this section as the ‘‘NIH’’) is the leading bio3 medical research entity in the world. It supports sci4 entists in every State who are pursuing treatments 

5 and cures to prevent and reduce human suffering. 

6 (2) Thanks in large part to NIH-funded re7 search, Americans today are living longer and 

8 healthier lives. Life expectancy in the United States 

9 has jumped from 47 years in 1900 to nearly 79 

10 years today. Deaths from heart attack have fallen by 

11 more than 60 percent over the past 40 years, and 

12 deaths from cancer are falling about 1 percent each 

13 year. 

14 (3) NIH is vital to the United States economy. 

15 The NIH extramural program supports around 

16 50,000 competitive research grants and 300,000 sci17 entists and research personnel at more than 2,500 

18 universities, medical schools, and other research in19 stitutions across our 50 States. 

20 (4) Economists have estimated that every $1 

21 invested in NIH generates more than $2 in local 

22 economic growth. Bioscience companies in the 

23 United States, many of which depend on basic re24 search conducted by NIH, directly employ 1.6 milVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 Jan 30, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H531.IH H531

smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 531 IH

1 lion people, and indirectly support another 6.2 mil2 lion jobs. 

3 (5) NIH research is critical to the Nation’s 

4 long-term fiscal health. Alzheimer’s disease currently 

5 costs the United States an estimated 

6 $200,000,000,000 a year. If no progress is made to 

7 cure or delay the onset of this disease, the cost will 

8 rise to well over $1,000,000,000,000 a year in to9 day’s dollars by 2050. 

10 (6) Cancer remains the leading cause of death 

11 by disease for children in the United States. More 

12 than 60 percent of children with cancer participate 

13 in NIH-funded clinical trials. 

14 (7) NIH enhances our national security by 

15 funding research on medical countermeasures for 

16 bioterrorism, new and emerging diseases, and deadly 

17 pandemics. 

18 (8) The historic, 5-year doubling of Federal 

19 funding for NIH ended in fiscal year 2003. Despite 

20 the widely recognized benefits of NIH-funded re21 search, NIH funding has declined by nearly 25 per22 cent since then, when adjusted for inflation. 

23 (9) The success rate of applications for NIH 

24 funding is near an all-time low. Fifteen years ago, 

25 NIH funded about 1-in-3 meritorious research proVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 Jan 30, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H531.IH H531

smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 531 IH

1 posals. Today, that rate has fallen to about 1-in-6, 

2 meaning that thousands of promising research ideas 

3 proposed every year are never pursued. 

4 (10) The decline in the NIH success rate has 

5 been especially challenging for young researchers. In 

6 1980, a researcher could expect to receive her first 

7 R01 grant at age 38. Today, the average investi8 gator must wait until age 45, a delay that is causing 

9 many of our brightest young scientists to leave the 

10 field. 

11 (11) America’s global scientific leadership is 

12 now at risk. Between 2004 and 2012, the United 

13 States share of global investment declined by about 

14 13 percent while the share of Asian economies grew 

15 by 7 percent. The Organisation for Economic Co-op16 eration and Development projects that China will 

17 outspend the United States on research and develop18 ment by 2020. 

19 (12) Budget cap adjustments are used by Con20 gress to prioritize spending that produces economic 

21 growth and reduces costs that contribute to the Fed22 eral debt. 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 531 IH

1 SEC. 3. CAP ADJUSTMENT. 

2 Section 251(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emer3 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)) 

4 is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as sub6 paragraph (E); and 

7 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (C), the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(D) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF

10 HEALTH.— 

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If a bill or joint 

12 resolution making appropriations for a fis13 cal year is enacted that specifies amounts 

14 for the National Institutes of Health at the 

15 Department of Health and Human Serv16 ices (75–9915–1–1–552), then the adjust17 ments for that fiscal year shall be the 

18 amount of additional new budget authority 

19 provided in that Act for such programs for 

20 that fiscal year, but shall not exceed— 

21 ‘‘(I) for fiscal year 2016, 

22 $3,000,000,000 in additional new 

23 budget authority; 

24 ‘‘(II) for fiscal year 2017, 

25 $6,300,000,000 in additional new 

26 budget authority; 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 531 IH

1 ‘‘(III) for fiscal year 2018, 

2 $8,450,000,000 in additional new 

3 budget authority; 

4 ‘‘(IV) for fiscal year 2019, 

5 $10,740,000,000 in additional new 

6 budget authority; 

7 ‘‘(V) for fiscal year 2020, 

8 $13,160,000,000 in additional new 

9 budget authority; and 

10 ‘‘(VI) for fiscal year 2021, 

11 $15,730,000,000 in additional new 

12 budget authority. 

13 ‘‘(ii) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this 

14 subparagraph: 

15 ‘‘(I) ADDITIONAL NEW BUDGET

16 AUTHORITY.—The term ‘additional 

17 new budget authority’ means the 

18 amount provided for a fiscal year, in 

19 excess of $29,369,000,000, in an ap20 propriation Act and specified to sup21 port the National Institutes of Health. 

22 ‘‘(II) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF

23 HEALTH.—The term ‘National Insti24 tutes of Health’ means the appropria25 tions accounts that support the varVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 Jan 30, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H531.IH H531

smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 531 IH

1 ious institutes, offices, and centers 

2 that make up the National Institutes 

3 of Health.’’. 

Æ 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS