Welcome to March's Renal Policy Express
The start of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 (FY04) appropriations process has begun and the prospects for adequate increases in health and biomedical research funding is ominous. The House and Senate Budget Committees recently approved their respective FY04 budget resolutions, which call for minimal increases in both discretionary and mandatory spending.
The House resolution provides $775.4 billion in discretionary spending budget authority for FY04, a 1.3 percent increase over FY03. For non-defense discretionary spending, the House resolution includes $375 billion, a $1.6 billion (0.4 percent) increase; however, non-defense, non-homeland security funding is cut by 1 percent. Most troubling is the 2.8 percent or $1.4 billion cut in the budget function for health. Specifically, the budget assumes $27.9 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in FY04, which falls short of the $30 billion total advocated for by the biomedical research community and further exacerbates the cut on other discretionary health programs.
The Senate resolution is not as troubling for health funding. Overall, the Senate proposal provides a total of $784.5 billion, an increase of $18.7 billion (2.4 percent) in discretionary spending and $49.62 billion for the health budget function, which represents a 0.3 percent increase. The Senate resolution also assumes $27.9 billion for FY04 NIH funding.
This sobering picture for FY04 health and biomedical research funding is being further debated, since the House and Senate began floor consideration of their respective resolutions this week. The ASN will work closely with the entire biomedical research community urging Congress that support for medical research be sustained, so that foundations of future progress and discovery enhanced during the past five years are not eroded.
Clearly, health and biomedical research greatly impact the renal community. This edition of
Renal Express also addresses other significant issues, including the annual Renal Coalition meeting, National Donate Life Month, and new house bills HR 1004 and HR 5. I hope this issue provides you with a quick and effective means of learning more about the policy issues affecting the members of ASN.
As always, please feel free to contact me if you have questions, comments, or suggestions by
email or by phone at 202-416-0646.
Sincerely yours,
Paul C. Smedberg
The ASN and PKD Express Concern to FDA
The ASN and the Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Foundation recently wrote a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expressing concern about the marketing practices and promotional materials associated with the System 100 console (S-100), marketed by CHF Solutions, which claims to aid patients in extracorporeal therapy. In our opinion, the S-100 device, which the Food and Drug Administration approved for specific use by cardiologists and their staff who have no formal training in the performance of extracorporeal therapy, is being marketed in a manner not consistent with safe and effective patient care. Learn more.
Read our letter to the FDA.
Renal Coalition Meeting Update
Paul Smedberg, ASN's Director of Policy and Public Affairs attended the Renal Coalition Meeting on Thursday, March 14. Agenda items included updates on Coalition members' current policy activities, as well as new and future bills that are important to the renal community. The Renal Coalition Annual Meeting will take place Friday, March 21 in Washington, DC at 3:00pm.
