NAEVR COMMENDS SENATE FOR PASSAGE OF DEFENSE/LHHS MINIBUS WITH $2 B NIH, $25 M NEI INCREASES

(Washington, D.C.) Today, the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research's (NAEVR) Executive Director James Jorkasky issued a statement after the Senate's August 23 passage of H.R. 6157, a minibus bill that combined the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) spending bills. The minibus funds the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at $39.08 billion, a $2 billion or 5.4 percent increase over enacted FY2018, and the National Eye Institute (NEI) at $796.9 million, a $24.6 million or 3.2 percent increase over enacted FY2018.

"NAEVR commends the Senate for passage of the minibus, and especially recognizes Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), for passage of this legislation that continues a trajectory of robust increases for the NIH.

NAEVR is pleased that the bill places an emphasis on growing the base budgets of the Institutes and Centers, with the NEI receiving a greater-than-inflation increase. Support for our nation's vision commitment is especially important in this year in which the NEI celebrates the 50th anniversary of its creation by Congress to lead efforts in sight-saving and vision-restoring research.

NAEVR encourages the House to join the Senate in passing a bipartisan spending bill with at least a $2 billion NIH increase."”

The National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR) is a 501(c)4 non-profit advocacy coalition comprised of 55 professional, consumer, and industry organizations involved in eye and vision research. Visit the Web site at www.eyeresearch.org.