House Appropriations Committee Approves Fiscal Year 2024 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill with $20 M for Vision Research Program

On June 22 the House Appropriations Committee approved its Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Defense spending bill which includes $20 million funding for the Department of Defense's (DOD) Vision Research Program  (VRP), the sixth consecutive year that the program has been funded at that level.  None of the other research programs  that are part of the Congressionally-directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) received an increase in the bill.  NAEVR had requested that Congress fund the VRP at a level of $30 million.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to act on its Defense Appropriations bill. In most years, the Senate does not include funding for most of the CDMRPs, but rather accepts the House funding levels for these programs.