President Signs FY2016 Omnibus Appropriations Legislation

Legislative Update
December 19, 2015

On December 18, the House and Senate passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Omnibus appropriations legislation, and President Obama signed the bill that evening. The House passed the bill by a vote of 316-113, and the Senate by a vote of 65-33.

The bill funds the NIH at $32.08 billion, $2 billion or 6.6 percent increase over FY2015. The bill also funds the National Eye Institute (NEI) at $715.9 million, a 4.6 percent increase over its FY2015 appropriation of $684.2 million and 5.7 percent over its operational net of $676.8 million.

Before Congress was able to finalize the massive legislation, two short-term Continuing Resolutions (CR) were required to give congressional negotiators enough time to work our differences between the parties and with the White House on policy riders and other issues.