Policy & Public Affairs
FY 2003 Budget Update
As previously reported, the President released his FY03 budget to Congress on February 4, 2002. In general, the president's budget contains large increases in defense spending and other activities related to the ongoing war on terrorism. In response to the budget, Congress has scheduled hearings to speak with administration officials about their budget requests.
As Congress begins to hold hearings on the budget, the Government Relations staff wanted to highlight sections of the President's budget that may be of interest to ASN. The entire budget can be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2003/budget.html.
The following information was taken from the President's Proposed budget for FY03.
National Institutes of Health:
The FY 2003 budget request for NIH includes $27.3 billion to fulfill the President's promise to complete the doubling of NIH's budget by FY 2003, from the FY 1998 level of $13.6 billion. This is an increase of $3.7 billion, or 15.7 percent, over FY 2002. Of the increase, almost $1.8 billion is earmarked for bioterrorism activities.
AHRQ
The FY 2003 request for AHRQ provides a total program level of $251 million, a decrease of $49 million, or 16 percent, from FY 2002. In FY 2003, AHRQ will be fully funded through inter-agency transfers of evaluation funds.
The budget will place a priority on:
- Improving patient safety and reducing the number of medical errors;
- Providing additional information for new national reports on quality and disparities in health care;
- Encouraging adoption of evidence-based clinical, system and policy practices.
Increasing Organ Donations:
The budget includes $25 million, an increase of $5 million, to support the Secretary's Gift of Life Donation Initiative, a variety of donation awareness efforts, the network that manages the distribution of organs throughout the United States, and vital data collection that guides community leaders and policy makers.
Centers for Disease Control:
The FY 2003 budget requests a total of $5.8 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a decrease of $1 billion, or 15 percent, from FY 2002. This reduction is attributed primarily to a major one-time purchase in FY 2002 of vaccines and other pharmaceuticals to combat bioterrorist threats. The FY 2003 budget for CDC includes $1.5 billion in funds provided through the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (PHSSEF), $184 million in the Health Facilities and Construction Fund, and $47 million in Public Health Service evaluation interagency transfer funds for activities related to health statistics.