Millions of Americans are dying to know what Congress will do

Sequestration, 10 years of across-the-board spending cuts for federal agencies that took effect March 1, will cause irreparable harm to our nation’s research pipeline — our greatest hope for finding new therapies and cures for deadly and disabling diseases and maintaining our global competitiveness. Sequestration also risks prevention research; the research needed to combat disease outbreaks; and the research necessary to weed out costly inefficiencies and deadly errors from our health care system.
The National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Science Foundation received modest funding increases in a continuing resolution that keeps the government funded for the remainder of FY13. However, sequestration far outstripped these increases, cutting $1.5 billion from NIH and billions more from other health research agencies.
As the FY14 appropriations bills are considered, we must fight to repeal sequestration and secure a boost in dollars for NIH, FDA, NSF, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. We must remind Members of Congress that sequestration cannot become the “new normal.” It’s a costly mistake. If arbitrary budget cuts and policies that impede private sector innovation take hold, what does that mean for our health and economy? 
  • Fewer diagnostics, treatments and cures for life-threatening diseases.
  • Fewer opportunities to capitalize on recent medical breakthroughs.
  • Reduced capacity to ensure the safety and efficacy of new products.
  • Stalled efforts to reduce preventable medical errors.
  • Missed opportunities to reduce health care costs.
  • The continued decline of our public health system.
  • Significant job loss in the public and private sector.
  • Loss of our position as a global leader in medical R&D.
"My lab is now less than a third of the size it was just a few years ago and we now have many research projects that have to be halted..."
We have much to lose and nothing to gain by federal decision making that stalls U.S. medical progress. We need cures, not cuts. 

Read the latest news articles on research funding here.

Tell Congress: We need cures, not cuts.

Help us save medical research.