CQ Roll Call: Top HHS Appropriator Builds Case for NIH Budget Increases
“… ‘This money is money that’s well spent,’ House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole said Wednesday of the NIH’s budget, which he helped increase by $2 billion to about $34 billion for fiscal 2017. ‘Now if we can spend it more efficiently, that’s fine, too. We should have that discussion, but we ought to recognize that the basic investment here is a wise one’…” (Young, 5/17).

The Hill: Lawmakers shoot down Trump’s proposed cuts to medical research
“Lawmakers are making clear that they have no intention of carrying out President Trump’s proposal to decrease funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s medical research agency. In a hearing Wednesday, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) — the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the NIH’s budget — said he was ‘disappointed’ to see the White House’s recommendation to cut NIH funding by about $5.8 billion in its budget [blueprint] proposal for fiscal 2018…” (Roubein/Hellmann, 5/17).

Science Speaks: Biomedical research benefits bring House members, NIH leaders together
“… ‘Partisan politics usually falls by the wayside,’ agreed Appropriations committee ranking member Rep. Nita Lowey, when members consider the accomplishments across the institutes that make up the world’s leading biomedical research entity…” (Barton, 5/17).