II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2658 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 24, 2014 

Mr. HARKIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 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: 


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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 re4 searchers in every State as they discover treatments 

5 and cures to prevent and reduce human suffering. 

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

8 healthier. Life expectancy in the United States has 

9 jumped from 47 years in 1900 to 78 years in 2009, 

10 and disability in people over age 65 has dropped 

11 dramatically in the past 3 decades. 

12 (2) Over the past 40 years, NIH-supported re13 search contributed to the discovery of 153 new Food 

14 and Drug Administration-approved drugs, vaccines, 

15 or new indications for current drugs. 

16 (3) The application success rate is now at an 

17 all-time low. From 1980 to 2003, the last year of 

18 the doubling, the grant application success rate 

19 ranged between 25 and 35 percent. By 2013, the 

20 grant success rate had fallen to 16.8 percent. 

21 (4) Recent Federal funding cuts threaten to di22 minish United States leadership in the world. The 

23 international community has recognized the role bio24 medical research plays in generating economic 

25 growth. England, China, Brazil, South Korea, India, 


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1 Singapore, Germany, France and Japan are increas2 ing their investment, despite the worldwide reces3 sion. Only the United States has decreased its in4 vestment, from 0.215 percent of Gross Domestic 

5 Product in 2003 (the last year of the doubling) to 

6 0.174 percent in 2013. In 8 years, if current trends 

7 continue, China will surpass the United States in 

8 total government biomedical research investment. 

9 (5) NIH is vital to the United States economy. 

10 In fiscal year 2012, the NIH extramural program 

11 supported around 50,000 competitive research 

12 grants and 300,000 scientists and research per13 sonnel at more than 2,500 universities, medical 

14 schools, and other research institutions across our 

15 50 States. 

16 (6) Economists have estimated the return on 

17 each dollar of investment in NIH to generate any18 where from $1.80 to $3.20 in economic output. The 

19 Federal investment of $3,800,000,000 in the Human 

20 Genome Project from 1988 to 2003 helped drive 

21 $796,000,000,000 in economic output, which is a re22 turn of $141 for every $1 invested. 

23 (7) In 2013, sales of products built around li24 censed NIH and Food and Drug Administration inVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:55 Jul 29, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2658.IS S2658

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1 ventions included 358 licensees reporting a total of 

2 $7,000,000,000 in sales. 

3 (8) The historic doubling of Federal funding for 

4 the National Institutes of Health ended in fiscal 

5 year 2003. Since that time, NIH appropriations 

6 have not kept up with biomedical inflation. NIH has 

7 lost more than 20 percent of its purchasing power 

8 for medical research since 2003. 

9 (9) If NIH had kept up with biomedical infla10 tion, NIH’s appropriation would have totaled 

11 $37,000,000,000 in 2013, instead of the 

12 $28,900,000,000 that was actually appropriated, a 

13 loss of $8,100,000,000 or 28 percent. To restore 

14 funding to the 2003 post-doubling level would re15 quire Congress to appropriate $46,500,000,000 in 

16 fiscal year 2021, the final year of the Budget Con17 trol Act of 2011 (Public Law 112–25). 

18 (10) High health care costs from a variety of 

19 common conditions threaten Federal, State, and 

20 local budgets, as well as the budgets of American 

21 families. Recent estimates indicate that the economic 

22 costs of Alzheimer’s disease is over 

23 $200,000,000,000 each year but will rise to over 

24 $1,000,000,000,000 by 2050 unless a prevention or 

25 cure is found. In 2006, economists found that a fuVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:55 Jul 29, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2658.IS S2658

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1 ture 1 percent reduction in mortality rates from can2 cer would save $500,000,000,000 to current and fu3 ture Americans. A cure for cancer was estimated to 

4 save $50,000,000,000,000 to Americans, more than 

5 3 times the gross domestic product of the United 

6 States in 2012. The Centers for Disease Control and 

7 Prevention reports that annual costs from 

8 undiagnosed diabetes was $245,000,000,000 each 

9 year. And a recent study projects that by 2030, 

10 nearly 44 percent of the United States population 

11 will face some form of cardiovascular disease costing 

12 a total of $1,208,000,000,000 between 2012 and 

13 2030. 

14 (11) Budget cap adjustments are how Congress 

15 traditionally prioritizes areas of spending that 

16 produce economic growth and reduce costs that con17 tribute to the Federal debt. 

18 SEC. 3. CAP ADJUSTMENT. 

19 Section 251(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emer20 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)) 

21 is amended— 

22 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as sub23 paragraph (E); and 

24 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (C), the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(D) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF

2 HEALTH.— 

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

4 resolution making appropriations for a fis5 cal year is enacted that specifies amounts 

6 for the National Institutes of Health at the 

7 Department of Health and Human Serv8 ices (75–9915–1–1–552), then the adjust9 ments for that fiscal year shall be the 

10 amount of additional new budget authority 

11 provided in that Act for such programs for 

12 that fiscal year, but shall not exceed— 

13 ‘‘(I) for fiscal year 2015, 

14 $3,000,000,000 in additional new 

15 budget authority; 

16 ‘‘(II) for fiscal year 2016, 

17 $6,300,000,000 in additional new 

18 budget authority; 

19 ‘‘(III) for fiscal year 2017, 

20 $8,100,000,000 in additional new 

21 budget authority; 

22 ‘‘(IV) for fiscal year 2018, 

23 $10,000,000,000 in additional new 

24 budget authority; 


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1 ‘‘(V) for fiscal year 2019, 

2 $12,000,000,000 in additional new 

3 budget authority; 

4 ‘‘(VI) for fiscal year 2020, 

5 $14,100,000,000 in additional new 

6 budget authority; and 

7 ‘‘(VII) for fiscal year 2021, 

8 $16,300,000,000 in additional new 

9 budget authority. 

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

11 subparagraph: 

12 ‘‘(I) ADDITIONAL NEW BUDGET

13 AUTHORITY.—The term ‘additional 

14 new budget authority’ means the 

15 amount provided for a fiscal year, in 

16 excess of $29,926,104,000, in an ap17 propriation Act and specified to sup18 port the National Institutes of Health. 

19 ‘‘(II) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF

20 HEALTH.—The term ‘National Insti21 tutes of Health’ means the appropria22 tions accounts that support the var23 ious institutes, offices, and centers 


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1 that make up the National Institutes 

2 of Health.’’. 

Æ 


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