Author Archive for Stephanie FerrettiPage 2 of 9

House Passes FY 2012 Spending Omnibus

By Stephanie Ferretti. Published on December 16, 2011 in Government Relations. 0 Comments

The House has passed the year-end $1 trillion spending bill (H.R. 2055) on a 296-121 vote, sending the bill to the Senate, which is expected to clear the measure for President Barack Obama’s signature later Friday. 

For NIH, the conference agreement appropriates $30.690 billion, an increase of $1.7 million over FY 2011, not including the across-the-board cuts.  However, the agreement does not include any transfer of NIH funding to the Global HIV/AIDS fund; all FY 2012 funding for fund is included in State-Foreign Operations portion of the conference agreement (Division I).  As a result, the NIH program level for FY 2012 is $30.698 billion, which is $299 million over FY 2011.  These numbers do not include the across-the-board cuts.

Thebill text and Joint Statement of the Managers are available on the House Rules Committee site: 

Prepared from a statement by Mary M. Langman, MLA Coordinator, Information Issues and Policy 

House and Senate Name Conferees for FY 2012 Appropriations “Megabus”

By Stephanie Ferretti. Published on December 12, 2011 in Government Relations. 0 Comments

 Congress is in the process of negotiating its FY 12 funding for several federal agencies, including NIH and NLM. On Dec. 7, leaders in both the House and the Senate appointed conferees to negotiate a “megabus” spending package that will finalize funding levels for the nine remaining appropriations bills. Senate Appropriations Chair Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and House Chair Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) both indicated in a brief, public meeting of the conference committee that negotiations continue and that they hope to present a final conference report “early next week.” 

 Prepared from a statement by Mary M. Langman, MLA Coordinator, Information Issues and Policy 

 

 

 

Supreme Court to Rule on Healthcare Reform Affordable Care Act (ACA)

By Stephanie Ferretti. Published on November 16, 2011 in Government Relations. 0 Comments

The Court will consider the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act in general, the so-called Individual Mandate in particular, and several other related issues including the expansion of Medicaid.   ”The Supreme Court typically intervenes when appellate courts reach opposing conclusions on a legal issue. The Justices could hear oral arguments in the spring 2012 and issue a ruling next summer.” Medscape Nov. 14. 2011 www.medscape.com

 

Use of Chimanzees in Research

By Stephanie Ferretti. Published on October 26, 2011 in Government Relations. 1 Comment Tags: , .

If you missed the recent talk on RadioTimes take some time to listen to the podcast  highlighted below. Did you know the United States is only one of two countries still using chimpanzees in biomedical research? According to WHYY Radio,

There are over a 1000 chimpanzees kept in laboratories in the United States.  Now a bill in Congress, the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, wants to ban the use of chimpanzees for medical research in both federal and private laboratories.  But some scientists argue the chimpanzees, because they are so closely related to humans, are vital in research around diseases like hepatitis C and vaccine development.  Others argue that using such intelligent and social animals in laboratory research is unethical and unnecessary.  Get both sides of the debate from two scientists:  JOHN VANDEBERG is the chief scientific officer for the Texas Biomedical Institute and the Director of the Southwest National Primate Research Center, and BRIAN HARE, a professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Dukes University’s Center for Cognitive Neuroscience.

~Marty Moss Coane RADIOTIMES~

Listen to the mp3 Podcast

Action Needed: House Sign-On on NIH Funding

By Stephanie Ferretti. Published on October 24, 2011 in Government Relations. 0 Comments

By close of business, Wednesday, October 26th, please consider contacting your member of the House of Representatives and encourage him/her to sign onto this letter of support for FY 2010 funding.  The Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research has provided the following background information about the letter and its purpose. 

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