NAEVR and ARVO: Restore the Extramural Salary Cap to Executive Level I

Legislative Update
May 16, 2012

On May 16, NAEVR and ARVO joined 160 other signatories on a letter urging the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate and House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittees to restore the extramural salary cap to Executive Level I in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 appropriations. In an unprecedented move, the FY 2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 112-74) reduced the direct salary in grants from Executive Level I ($199,700) to Executive Level II ($179,700), a ten percent cut. This was opposed by the medical research advocacy community.

In part, the letter reads:

“This change… comes at a time when research institutions’ discretionary funds for clinical revenues and other sources are increasingly constrained and less available to invest in research. As institutions and departments divert funds to compensate for the reduction in the salary limit, they will have less funding for critical activities such as providing bridge funding to investigators who may be between grants, and to provide seed grants and start-up packages for young investigators.”

The letter also notes that the change disadvantages the most productive investigators, as well as physician investigators, and serves as a deterrent to their recruitment into research careers.

NAEVR and ARVO will continue to work with coalition partners to restore these cuts. The Senate proposes to mark up its LHHS bill in early June, while the House plans its markup in early July.