Congress Tackles NIH Reform

In the span of two days last week, the House Energy & Commerce Committee held a hearing to roll out draft legislation to reauthorize the National Institutes of Health and a hearing to mark up and approve the bipartisan bill.

The NIH Reform Act of 2006, if enacted, would be the first time NIH has been reauthorized in 13 years. The bill would cap the number of institutes and centers at its current number of 27 and set up an advisory board to review and suggest changes to the agency's structural organization.

"Today we're going to do something historic," said committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) during the markup hearing. The reauthorization of NIH has been a priority of Barton's since he became chairman three years ago. This bill builds on past draft bills and has widespread congressional, agency, and stakeholder support.

The bill would authorize a 5% increase of the NIH budget for the next three years starting in fiscal 2007. It would also create a "common fund," set at 5% of the overall NIH budget, for the director to use to support NIH research projects that involve multiple institutes and centers. The agency would be required to establish a comprehensive electronic reporting system to catalogue all of its research activities in a standardized format.

"Just doubling the money isn't enough; our job should be to give NIH the tools it needs to bring accountability and transparency to this nearly $30 billion research agency," he noted.

Barton, who is intent on getting this legislation passed into law by the end of this congressional session, said a full House vote on the bill is expected this week.